@phdthesis{SteuerDankert2020, author = {Steuer-Dankert, Linda}, title = {Diversity in complex organizations : the triangle of diversity management, change management and organizational culture from a system-theoretical perspective}, doi = {10.18154/RWTH-2020-11830}, pages = {298}, year = {2020}, abstract = {Insbesondere im wirtschaftlichen Kontext wird die Diversit{\"a}t von Belegschaften zunehmend als ein kritischer Erfolgsfaktor gesehen. Neben dem Potenzial, welches sich laut Studien aus einem vielf{\"a}ltigen Team ergibt, werden jedoch ebenfalls die aus menschlicher Diversit{\"a}t resultierenden Herausforderungen thematisiert und wissenschaftlich untersucht. Sowohl aus dem Potenzial als auch aus den Herausforderungen ergibt sich dabei die Notwendigkeit der Implementierung eines organisationsspezifischen Diversity Managements, welches die Gewinnung neuer Mitarbeiter*innen einerseits und das Management der vorhandenen Vielfalt andererseits gleichermaßen unterst{\"u}tzt. In der psychologischen, sozial- und wirtschaftswissenschaftlichen Literatur gibt es unterschiedliche Definitionen von Diversit{\"a}t, woraus sich verschiedene Perspektiven auf das Vorgehen bei der Gestaltung und Umsetzung eines Diversity Management Ansatzes ergeben. Insbesondere vor dem Hintergrund der Komplexit{\"a}t des Organisationsumfeldes und der steigenden Anforderungen an die organisationsinterne Agilit{\"a}t besteht die Notwendigkeit, Diversit{\"a}t in Organisationen st{\"a}rker zu reflektieren und systemspezifische Ans{\"a}tze zu entwickeln. Dies erfordert die Ber{\"u}cksichtigung organisationsspezifischer Strukturen und Prozesse sowie die Reflexion des Wandels der Organisationskultur durch die Umsetzung eines Diversity Management Ansatzes, der die gegebene Komplexit{\"a}t aufgreift und bew{\"a}ltigen kann. Dar{\"u}ber hinaus sind die psychologischen Auswirkungen solcher Ver{\"a}nderungen auf die Mitarbeiter*innen zu ber{\"u}cksichtigen, um Reaktanzen zu vermeiden und eine nachhaltige Umsetzung von Diversity Management zu erm{\"o}glichen. In Ermangelung entsprechender Ans{\"a}tze im Rahmen {\"o}ffentlich finanzierter, komplexer Forschungsorganisationen, ist das Ziel dieser Dissertation die Entwicklung und Erprobung eines Forschungsdesigns, welches die Ans{\"a}tze des Diversity- und Change Managements mit der Organisationskultur verkn{\"u}pft, indem es eine systemtheoretische Perspektive einnimmt. Dabei wird das Forschungsdesign auf eine komplexe wissenschaftliche Organisation angewendet. Als Basis dient die in Teil A durchgef{\"u}hrte Betrachtung des aktuellen Forschungsstandes aus einer interdisziplin{\"a}ren Perspektive und die damit einhergehende umfassende Einf{\"u}hrung in das Forschungsfeld. Im Zuge dessen wird detailliert auf die begriffliche Definition von Diversit{\"a}t eingegangen, bevor dann die psychologischen Konzepte im Diversit{\"a}tskontext den {\"U}bergang zu einer differenzierten Auseinandersetzung mit dem Konzept des Diversity Managements bilden. Auf dieser Grundlage werden das Forschungsdesign sowie die daraus resultierenden Forschungsphasen abgeleitet. Teil A stellt somit die theoretische Grundlage f{\"u}r die in Teil B pr{\"a}sentierten Fachaufs{\"a}tze dar. Jeder Fachaufsatz beleuchtet dabei in chronologischer Reihenfolge die unterschiedlichen Forschungsphasen. Fachaufsatz I pr{\"a}sentiert den sechsstufigen Forschungsansatz und beleuchtet die besonderen Rahmenbedingungen des Forschungsobjektes aus einer theoretischen Perspektive. Im Anschluss werden die Ergebnisse der Organisationsanalyse, welche zugleich Phase I und II des Forschungskonzeptes darstellen, vorgestellt. Aufbauend auf diesen Forschungsergebnissen fokussiert Forschungsaufsatz II die Darlegung der Ergebnisse aus Forschungsphase III, der Befragung der F{\"u}hrungsebene. Die Befragung thematisierte dabei die Wahrnehmung von Diversity und Diversity Management auf F{\"u}hrungsebene, die Verkn{\"u}pfung von Diversit{\"a}t mit Innovation sowie die Reflexion des eigenen F{\"u}hrungsstils. Als Ergebnis der Befragung konnten sechs Typen identifiziert werden, die das F{\"u}hrungsverst{\"a}ndnis im Diversit{\"a}tskontext widerspiegeln und somit den Ansatzpunkt f{\"u}r eine top-down gerichtete Diversity Management Strategie darstellen. Darauf aufbauend wird in Forschungsphase IV die Mitarbeiter*innenebene beforscht. Im Zentrum der quantitativen Befragung standen die vorherrschenden Einstellungen zum Themenkomplex Diversity und Diversity Management, die Wahrnehmung von Diversit{\"a}t sowie die Untersuchung des Einflusses der F{\"u}hrungsebene auf die Mitarbeiter*innenebene. Forschungsaufsatz III pr{\"a}sentiert erste Ergebnisse dieser Untersuchung. Die Analyse weist auf eine unterschiedliche Gewichtung der verschiedenen Diversit{\"a}tskategorien hinsichtlich der Verkn{\"u}pfung mit Innovationen und somit der Reflexion des Kontextes zwischen Diversit{\"a}t und Innovationen hin. Vergleichbar mit den identifizierten Typen auf der F{\"u}hrungsebene, deutet die Analyse auf die Existenz unterschiedlicher Reflexionsgrade auf Mitarbeiter*innenebene hin. Auf Basis dessen wird im Rahmen von Forschungsaufsatz IV eine n{\"a}here Untersuchung des Reflexionsgrades auf Mitarbeiter*innenebene pr{\"a}sentiert und der Diversity Management Ansatz mit Elementen des Change Managements kombiniert. Besondere Ber{\"u}cksichtigung findet als Schlussfolgerung einer theoretischen Analyse die Organisationskultur als zentrales Element bei der Entwicklung und Einf{\"u}hrung eines Diversity Management Ansatzes in eine komplexe Forschungsorganisation in Deutschland. Die Analyse zeigt, dass die Wahrnehmung von Diversit{\"a}t heterogen aber zun{\"a}chst losgel{\"o}st vom individuellen Hintergrund ist (im Rahmen dieser Analyse lag der Fokus auf den Diversit{\"a}tskategorien Gender und Herkunft). Hinsichtlich der Wertsch{\"a}tzung von Diversit{\"a}t zeigt sich dabei ebenfalls ein heterogenes Bild. In der Gesamtbetrachtung stimmen lediglich 17\% der Mitarbeiter*innen zu, dass Diversit{\"a}tskategorien wie Gender, Herkunft oder auch Alter einen Mehrwert darstellen k{\"o}nnen. Zugleich bewertet diese Gruppe die dem Thema beigemessene Wichtigkeit im CoE als ausreichend. Zusammengefasst lassen sich folgende Erkenntnisse im Rahmen dieser Dissertation ableiten und dienen somit als Grundlage f{\"u}r die Entwicklung eines Diversity Management Ansatzes: (1) Die Entwicklung eines bedarfsorientierten Diversity Management Ansatzes erfordert einen systemtheoretischen Prozess, der sowohl organisationsinterne als auch externe Einflussfaktoren ber{\"u}cksichtigt. Der im Rahmen des Forschungsprojektes entwickelte sechsstufige Forschungsprozess hat sich dabei als geeignetes Instrument erwiesen. (2)Im Rahmen {\"o}ffentlicher Forschungseinrichtungen lassen sich dabei drei zentrale Faktoren identifizieren: die individuelle Reflexionsebene, die Organisationskultur sowie extern beeinflusste Organisationsstrukturen, Prozesse und Systeme.(3)Vergleichbar mit privatwirtschaftlichen Unternehmen hat auch in wissenschaftlichen Organisationen die F{\"u}hrungsebene einen maßgeblichen Einfluss auf die Wahrnehmung von Diversit{\"a}t und somit einen Einfluss auf die Umsetzung einer Diversity Management Strategie. Daher ist auch im wissenschaftlichen Kontext, bedingt durch die rechtlichen Rahmenbedingungen des Hochschulsystems, ein top-down Ansatz f{\"u}r eine nachhaltige Implementierung erforderlich. (4) Diversity Management steht in einem engen Zusammenhang mit einem organisationalen Wandel, was die Reflexion von Ver{\"a}nderungsprozesse aus einer psychologischen Perspektive erfordert und eine Verkn{\"u}pfung von Diversity und Change Management bedingt. Aufbauend auf den im Rahmen des entwickelten Forschungskonzeptes gewonnenen zentralen Erkenntnissen wird ein Ansatz entwickelt, der die Ableitung theoretischer Implikationen sowie Implikationen f{\"u}r das Management erm{\"o}glicht. Insbesondere vor dem Hintergrund der Reflexion der besonderen Rahmenbedingungen {\"o}ffentlich finanzierter Forschungsorganisationen werden dar{\"u}ber hinaus politische Implikationen abgeleitet, die auf die Ver{\"a}nderung struktureller Dimensionen abzielen.}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{SteuerDankert2023, author = {Steuer-Dankert, Linda}, title = {Training future skills - sustainability, interculturality \& innovation in a digital design thinking format}, series = {Proceedings of the 19th International CDIO Conference}, booktitle = {Proceedings of the 19th International CDIO Conference}, pages = {12 Seiten}, year = {2023}, abstract = {The complex questions of today for a world of tomorrow are characterized by their global impact. Solutions must therefore not only be sustainable in the sense of the three pillars of sustainability (economic, environmental, and social) but must also function globally. This goes hand in hand with the need for intercultural acceptance of developed services and products. To achieve this, engineers, as the problem solvers of the future, must be able to work in intercultural teams on appropriate solutions, and be sensitive to intercultural perspectives. To equip the engineers of the future with the so-called future skills, teaching concepts are needed in which students can acquire these methods and competencies in application-oriented formats. The presented course "Applying Design Thinking - Sustainability, Innovation and Interculturality" was developed to teach future skills from the competency areas Digital Key Competencies, Classical Competencies and Transformative Competencies. The CDIO Standard 3.0, in particular the standards 5, 6, 7 and 8, was used as a guideline. The course aims to prepare engineering students from different disciplines and cultures for their future work in an international environment by combining a digital teaching format with an interdisciplinary, transdisciplinary and intercultural setting for solving sustainability challenges. The innovative moment lies in the digital application of design thinking and the inclusion of intercultural as well as trans- and interdisciplinary perspectives in innovation development processes. In this paper, the concept of the course will be presented in detail and the particularities of a digital implementation of design thinking will be addressed. Subsequently, the potentials and challenges will be reflected and practical advice for integrating design thinking in engineering education will be given.}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{SteuerDankertBergLeichtScholten2015, author = {Steuer-Dankert, Linda and Berg, Tobias and Leicht-Scholten, Carmen}, title = {Breaking the habit - new approaches in engineering education}, series = {Proceedings of the 43rd Annual Conference of the European Society for Engineering Education}, booktitle = {Proceedings of the 43rd Annual Conference of the European Society for Engineering Education}, isbn = {978-2-87352-012-0}, pages = {11}, year = {2015}, abstract = {Within the framework of the project a genderand diversity-oriented teaching evaluation and modern, media-supported blended learning approaches were used in order to achieve the intended goals. First research results of the literature and status quo analysis were already implemented and tested in newly designed teaching approaches, for example in a multidisciplinary introductory lecture of civil engineering at RWTH Aachen University.}, language = {en} } @misc{SteuerDankertBergPostweilerLeichtScholten2023, author = {Steuer-Dankert, Linda and Berg-Postweiler, Julia and Leicht-Scholten, Carmen}, title = {One does not fit all: applying anti-bias trainings in academia}, series = {Twenty-third international conference on diversity in organizations, communities \& nations June 22 - 23, 2023 Toronto Metropolitan University, Rogers Communication Centre Toronto, Canada}, journal = {Twenty-third international conference on diversity in organizations, communities \& nations June 22 - 23, 2023 Toronto Metropolitan University, Rogers Communication Centre Toronto, Canada}, year = {2023}, abstract = {Anti-bias trainings are increasingly demanded and practiced in academia and industry to increase employees' sensitivity to discrimination, racism, and diversity. Under the heading of "Diversity Management", anti-bias trainings are mainly offered as one-off workshops intending to raise awareness of unconscious biases, create a diversity-affirming corporate culture, awake awareness of the potential of diversity, and ultimately enable the reflection of diversity in development processes. However, coming from childhood education, research and scientific articles on the sustainable effectiveness of anti-bias in adulthood, especially in academia, are very scarce. In order to fill this research gap, the paper explores how sustainable the effects of individual anti-bias trainings on the behavior of participants are. In order to investigate this, participant observation in a qualitative pre-post setting was conducted, analyzing anti-bias trainings in an academic context. Two observers actively participated in the training sessions and documented the activities and reflection processes of the participants. Overall, the results question the effectiveness of single anti-bias trainings and show that a target-group adaptive approach is mandatory due to the background of the approach in early childhood education. Therefore, it can be concluded that anti-bias work needs to be adapted to the target group's needs and reality of life. Furthermore, the study reveals that single anti-bias trainings must be embedded in a holistic diversity management approach to stimulate sustainable reflection processes among the target group. This paper is one of the first to scientifically evaluate anti-bias training effectiveness, especially in engineering sciences and the university context.}, language = {en} } @misc{SteuerDankertBernhardLangolfetal.2022, author = {Steuer-Dankert, Linda and Bernhard, Sebastian and Langolf, Jessica and Leicht-Scholten, Carmen}, title = {Managing change and acceptance of digitalization strategies - Implementing the vision of „Internet of Production" (IoP) in existing corporate structures}, series = {Textile Impulse f{\"u}r die Zukunft: Aachen-Dresden-Denkendorf International Textile Conference 2022 : 1. - 2. Dezember 2022, Eurogress Aachen}, journal = {Textile Impulse f{\"u}r die Zukunft: Aachen-Dresden-Denkendorf International Textile Conference 2022 : 1. - 2. Dezember 2022, Eurogress Aachen}, pages = {153 -- 153}, year = {2022}, abstract = {The vision of the Internet of Production is to enable a new level of crossdomain collaboration by providing semantically adequate and context-aware data from production, development \& usage in real-time.}, language = {en} } @misc{SteuerDankertBernhardLangolfetal.2023, author = {Steuer-Dankert, Linda and Bernhard, Sebastian and Langolf, Jessica and Leicht-Scholten, Carmen}, title = {About the paradox of sustainable production and what we can do about it!}, series = {Joint SCORAI-ERSCP-WUR conference on transforming consumption-production systems toward just and sustainable futures (SCP23), July 5-8, 2023, Wageningen, The Netherlands}, journal = {Joint SCORAI-ERSCP-WUR conference on transforming consumption-production systems toward just and sustainable futures (SCP23), July 5-8, 2023, Wageningen, The Netherlands}, year = {2023}, abstract = {Sustainability is playing an increasingly important role. Not least due to the definition of the sustainable development goals (SDGs) in the framework of the agenda 2030 by the United Nations (UN) in 2015 (United Nations, n.d.), it has become clear that the cooperation of different actors is needed to achieve the defined 17 goals. Industry, as a global actor, has a special role to play in this. In the course of sustainable production processes and chains, the industry is confronted with the responsibility of reflecting on the consequences of its own trade on an ecological, economic, and also social level and deriving measures that, according to the definition of sustainability (Hauff, 1987), will also enable future generations to satisfy their needs. While the ecological pillar of sustainability is already being addressed by different industrial initiatives (Deloitte, 2021), it is questionable to what extent the economic and, above all, the social pillars of sustainability also play a decisive role. Accordingly, it is questionable to what extent sustainability in its triad of social, ecological, and economic aspects is taken into account holistically at all, and thus to what extent the industry contributes to achieving the 17 goals defined by the UN. This paper presents a qualitative study that explores these questions. Interviewing 31 representatives from the manufacturing industry in Germany, results indicate a Paradox of Sustainable Production expressed by a theoretical reflection of the need for focusing on people in production processes on the one hand and a lack of addressing the social pillar of sustainability in concepts on the other hand. However, while it is a troublesome finding given the striking need for sustainable development (The-Sustainable-Development-Goals-Report-2022; Kropp 2019; von Hauff 2021; Roy and Singh 2017), the paradox directly lays out a path of resolving it. This is because, given its nature, we can see that we could resolve it via the implementation of strong educational efforts trying to help the respective people of the manufacturing industry to understand the holistic and interdependent character of sustainable development (The-Sustainable-Development-Goals-Report-2022).}, language = {en} } @incollection{SteuerDankertBouffierGaedickeetal.2017, author = {Steuer-Dankert, Linda and Bouffier, Anna and Gaedicke, Sonja and Leicht-Scholten, Carmen}, title = {Diversifying engineering education: a transdisciplinary approach from RWTH Aachen University}, series = {Strategies for increasing diversity in engineering majors and careers}, booktitle = {Strategies for increasing diversity in engineering majors and careers}, publisher = {IGI Global}, address = {Hershey, USA}, isbn = {9781522522126}, doi = {10.4018/978-1-5225-2212-6.ch010}, pages = {201 -- 235}, year = {2017}, abstract = {Engineers and therefore engineering education are challenged by the increasing complexity of questions to be answered globally. The education of future engineers therefore has to answer with curriculums that build up relevant skills. This chapter will give an example how to bring engineering and social responsibility successful together to build engineers of tomorrow. Through the integration of gender and diversity perspectives, engineering research and teaching is expanded with new perspectives and contents providing an important potential for innovation. Aiming on the enhancement of engineering education with distinctive competencies beyond technical expertise, the teaching approach introduced in the chapter represents key factors to ensure that coming generations of engineers will be able to meet the requirements and challenges a changing globalized world holds for them. The chapter will describe how this approach successfully has been implemented in the curriculum in engineering of a leading technical university in Germany.}, language = {en} } @article{SteuerDankertGilmartinMulleretal.2019, author = {Steuer-Dankert, Linda and Gilmartin, Shannon K. and Muller, Carol B. and Dungs, Carolin and Sheppard, Sheri and Leicht-Scholten, Carmen}, title = {Expanding engineering limits : a concept for socially responsible education of engineers}, series = {The international journal of engineering education}, volume = {35}, journal = {The international journal of engineering education}, number = {2}, isbn = {0949-149X}, pages = {658 -- 673}, year = {2019}, language = {en} } @inproceedings{SteuerDankertLeichtScholten2019, author = {Steuer-Dankert, Linda and Leicht-Scholten, Carmen}, title = {Diversity- and innovation management in complex engineering organizations}, series = {7th International OFEL Conference on Governance, Management and Entrepreneurship: Embracing Diversity in Organisations. April 5th - 6th, 2019, Dubrovnik, Croatia}, booktitle = {7th International OFEL Conference on Governance, Management and Entrepreneurship: Embracing Diversity in Organisations. April 5th - 6th, 2019, Dubrovnik, Croatia}, editor = {Tipurić, Darko and Hruška, Domagoj}, publisher = {Governance Research and Development Centre (CIRU)}, address = {Zagreb}, pages = {136 -- 157}, year = {2019}, abstract = {Diversity is increasingly being addressed as an innovation-promoting factor. For this reason, companies and institutions tackle the integration of a diversity management approach that enables a heterogenic perspective on innovation development. However, system-theoretical frameworks state that the implementation of diversity measures that are not tailored to the needs of the organization often leads to a rejection or reactivity with regard to the management approach. In this context, especially organizations, which are characterized by a specific hierarchical structure, a dominant habitus or specialist culture, must face the challenge of realizing a sustainable change of the corporate culture that sets the basis for implementing diversity management approaches. The presented research project focuses on analyzing the situation in a huge scientific collaborative project - so called Cluster of Excellence (CoE) - with the aim to implement a diversity - and innovation management strategy. Considering the influencing determinants, the CoE is characterized by its embeddedness in the scientific system, a complex organizational structure, and a high fluctuation rate. The paper presents a systemic approach of reflecting these factors in order to develop a diversity- and innovation management strategy. In this frame, the results of a quantitative survey of CoE employees and derived mindset-types are presented. The results show a need for taking different mindset-types into account, to be able to develop a tailored management strategy. The aim of the project is to give recommendations for developing a sustainable management concept that promotes both diversity and innovation by drawing on the persisting mindsets of organization members while reflecting top down as well as bottom up factors of implementation processes as well as the psychology of change. This paper addresses all who are concerned with the management of human resources in innovation processes and are striving for a cultural change within the framework of complex organizations.}, language = {en} } @incollection{SteuerDankertLeichtScholten2022, author = {Steuer-Dankert, Linda and Leicht-Scholten, Carmen}, title = {Perceiving diversity : an explorative approach in a complex research organization.}, series = {Diversity and discrimination in research organizations}, booktitle = {Diversity and discrimination in research organizations}, publisher = {Emerald Publishing Limited}, address = {Bingley}, isbn = {978-1-80117-959-1 (Print)}, doi = {10.1108/978-1-80117-956-020221010}, pages = {365 -- 392}, year = {2022}, abstract = {Diversity management is seen as a decisive factor for ensuring the development of socially responsible innovations (Beacham and Shambaugh, 2011; Sonntag, 2014; L{\´o}pez, 2015; Uebernickel et al., 2015). However, many diversity management approaches fail due to a one-sided consideration of diversity (Thomas and Ely, 2019) and a lacking linkage between the prevailing organizational culture and the perception of diversity in the respective organization. Reflecting the importance of diverse perspectives, research institutions have a special responsibility to actively deal with diversity, as they are publicly funded institutions that drive socially relevant development and educate future generations of developers, leaders and decision-makers. Nevertheless, only a few studies have so far dealt with the influence of the special framework conditions of the science system on diversity management. Focusing on the interdependency of the organizational culture and diversity management especially in a university research environment, this chapter aims in a first step to provide a theoretical perspective on the framework conditions of a complex research organization in Germany in order to understand the system-specific factors influencing diversity management. In a second step, an exploratory cluster analysis is presented, investigating the perception of diversity and possible influencing factors moderating this perception in a scientific organization. Combining both steps, the results show specific mechanisms and structures of the university research environment that have an impact on diversity management and rigidify structural barriers preventing an increase of diversity. The quantitative study also points out that the management level takes on a special role model function in the scientific system and thus has an influence on the perception of diversity. Consequently, when developing diversity management approaches in research organizations, it is necessary to consider the top-down direction of action, the special nature of organizational structures in the university research environment as well as the special role of the professorial level as role model for the scientific staff.}, language = {en} }