Michael Grothe-Hammer

About

Associate Professor in Sociology (Organization and Technology)
Head of the "Organization & Society" Research Group

Curriculum Vitae

Academic Experience

Since 04/2020 Associate Professor of Sociology (Organization and Technology) at the Department of Sociology and Political Science (ISS) of the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Trondheim, Norway.
09/2019 - 03/2020 Affiliated with the Department of Sociology and Political Science (ISS) of the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Trondheim, Norway.
09/2015 - 03/2020 Research Associate at the Chair for Sociology, especially Sociology of Organizations, Helmut Schmidt University Hamburg, Germany.
02/2017 - 04/2017 Guest Researcher at Score (Stockholm centre for organizational research), Sweden.
10/2014 - 03/2017 Visiting Lecturer at the University of Potsdam, Germany (in each winter term).
12/2013 - 11/2016 Research Associate at the Chair for Inter-Firm-Cooperation (Prof. Jörg Sydow), Department of Management, Freie Universität Berlin, Germany.
10/2011 - 09/2012 Research Assistant in the Cognitronics & Sensor Systems group of the Cluster of Excellence – Cognitive Interaction Technology (CITEC), Bielefeld University, Germany.

Education

02/2015 - 03/2018 Doctorate in Sociology (Dr. rer. pol.) at the Faculty of Economic and Social Sciences, Helmut Schmidt University Hamburg, Germany.
10/2009 - 11/2013 M.A. Sociology, Bielefeld University, Germany.
02/2011 - 05/2011 Studies in European Societies, Saint Petersburg State University, Russia.
10/2006 - 09/2009 B.A. Sociology, Bielefeld University, Germany.

Awards

Winner of the EGOS Best Paper Award 2016 of the European Group for Organizational Studies (with Jörg Sydow, Olivier Berthod, and Ryan Hagen).
Nominated for the EGOS Best Student Paper Award 2017 of the European Group for Organizational Studies.
Performance bonus from the Helmut Schmidt University for “outstanding, exceptional performance” in 2017 & 2018.

Memberships & Institutional Service

International Sociological Association (ISA)
- Secretary of the Research Committee “Sociology of Organizations” of the International Sociological Association (ISA).
Scientific Network "Grand Challenges & New Forms of Organizing".
European Group for Organizational Studies (EGOS).
German Sociological Association (DGS), Section on Organizational Sociology.
2019-2020: Member of the senate committee for research and junior scholars at Helmut Schmidt University, Germany.
2017-2018: Substitute member of the academic senate at Helmut Schmidt University Hamburg, Germany.

Editorial Memberships

Co-Editor in Chief of the Journal of Organizational Sociology (since 2022)
Senior Editor of M@n@gement (since 2020)
Associate Editor of Humanities and Social Sciences Communications (since 2022)

Ad-hoc Reviews

Arbeit. Zeitschrift für Arbeitsforschung, Arbeitsgestaltung und Arbeitspolitik
Berliner Journal für Soziologie
British Journal of Sociology
Business & Society
Environmental Policy & Governance
Human Relations
Information Technology & People
International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction
International Journal of Management Reviews
International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy
International Review of Sociology
Journal of Business Ethics
Journal of Management Inquiry
Kybernetes
Organization
Organization Studies
Organization Theory
Regulation & Governance
Scandinavian Journal of Management
Social Sciences
Societies
Studies in Communication and Media
Sustainability
Systemic Practice and Action Research
Systems Research and Behavioral Science
Work Organisation, Labour & Globalisation
Zeitschrift für Soziologie

Research

Research Interestes

Sociological Theory
Organization & Digitalization
Emergencies & Disasters
New Forms of Organization
Organization & Societal Differentiation
Partial Organization & Meta-organization
Communicative Constitution of Organization (CCO)
Modern Systems Theory
Qualitative Methods

Research Groups and Projects:

Meta-organizing grand challenges: the case of ocean governance

The purpose of the project is to study how meta-organizations tackle so-called “grand challenges”.

FIRE 21

The goal of the project FIRE21 is to understand and improve problem-solving in the fire services in the 21st century, including improving our understanding of recognizing and preparing for emerging risks.

Publications

Decisional Organization Theory: Towards an Integrated Framework of Organization

We develop an integrated, decisional organization theory (decisional OT) in which we articulate several concepts of organization theory, thus presenting organization as both a system of decision and a decided social order.

From a Clash of Social Orders to a Loss of Decidability in Meta-organizations Tackling Grand Challenges: The Case of Japan Leaving the International Whaling Commission

Do contradictory orders affect meta-organizations’ ability to govern grand challenges and if so, how? This paper investigates this question by focusing on the evolution and intermeshing of social orders within international governance meta-organizations.

Special Issue: Meta-Organization

Berkowitz, H., Brunsson, N., Grothe-Hammer, M., Sundberg, M., Valiorgue B. (2022). Special Issue: Meta-Organization. M@n@gement, 25(2).

Journal Articles

Berkowitz, H., & Grothe-Hammer, M. (2022). From a clash of social orders to a loss of decidability in meta-organizations tackling grand challenges: The case of Japan leaving the International Whaling Commission. Research in the Sociology of Organizations, 79, 115-138. Open Access: https://doi.org/10.1108/S0733-558X20220000079010

Sales, A., Roth, S., Grothe-Hammer, M., & Azambuja, R. (2022). From play to pay: A multifunctional approach to the role of culture in post-merger integration. Management Decision, 60(7), 1922-1946. https://doi.org/10.1108/MD-01-2021-0136
You can access the author accepted version here.

Besio, C., Fedtke, C., Grothe-Hammer, M., Karafillidis, A. & Pronzini, A. (2022). Verantwortungsvolle Maschinen ohne Verantwortlichkeit? Datenintensive Algorithmen in Organisationen. [Responsible machines without accountability? Data-intensive algorithms in organizations.] Soziale Systeme, 26(1-2), 129-159. https://doi.org/10.1515/sosys-2021-0005

Grothe-Hammer, M., & Roth, S. (2021). Dying is Normal, Dying with the Coronavirus is not: A Sociological Analysis of the Implicit Norms Behind the Criticism of Swedish “Exceptionalism”. European Societies, 23(sup1), S332-S347. Open Access: https://doi.org/10.1080/14616696.2020.1826555

Grothe-Hammer, M., & Kohl, S. (2020). The Decline of Organizational Sociology? An empirical analysis of research trends in leading journals across half a century. Current Sociology, 68(4), 419-442. Open Access: https://doi.org/10.1177/0011392120907627

Grothe-Hammer, M. (2020). Membership and contributorship in organizations: An update of modern systems theory. Systems Research and Behavioral Science, 37(3), 482-495. Open Access: https://doi.org/10.1002/sres.2683

Berthod, O., Grothe-Hammer, M., Hagen, R., Sydow, J. (2020). Managing resource transposition in the face of extreme events: Fieldwork at two public networks in Germany and the U.S.. Public Administration. Early View: https://doi.org/10.1111/padm.12660

Grothe-Hammer, M. (2019). Organization without actorhood: Exploring a neglected phenomenon. European Management Journal, 37(3), 325-338. doi:10.1016/j.emj.2018.07.009 . You can access the final postprint version here.

Grothe-Hammer, M., & Berthod, O. (2017). The programming of decisions for disaster and emergency response: A Luhmannian approach. Current Sociology, 65(5), 735-755. doi:10.1177/0011392116640592

Berthod, O., Grothe-Hammer, M., & Sydow, J. (2017). Network Ethnography: A Mixed-Method Approach for the Study of Practices in Interorganizational Settings. Organizational Research Methods, 20(2), 299-323. doi:10.1177/1094428116633872

Berthod, O., Grothe-Hammer, M., Müller-Seitz, G., Raab, J., Sydow, J. (2017). From High-Reliability Organizations to High-Reliability Networks: The Dynamics of Network Governance in the Face of Emergency. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 27(2), 352-371. doi: 10.1093/jopart/muw05

Apelt, M., Besio, C., Corsi, G., von Groddeck, V., Grothe-Hammer, M., & Tacke, V. (2017). Resurrecting organization without renouncing society: A response to Ahrne, Brunsson and Seidl. European Management Journal, 35(1), 8-14. doi:10.1016/j.emj.2017.01.002

Grothe-Hammer, M. (2017). Preparing for the Field by Topics: A Systems Theory inspired Strategy for Improving Social Access. Systems Research and Behavioral Science, 34(1), 41-50. doi:10.1002/sres.2393

Berthod, O., Grothe-Hammer, M., & Sydow, J. (2015). Some Characteristics of High-Reliability Networks. Journal of Contingencies and Crisis Management, 23(1), 24–28. doi:10.1111/1468-5973.12069

Grothe-Hammer, M. (2015). “You watch that the maniac finishes in time.” On the balance of power between the director and production manager in film projects. Studies in Communication & Media, 4(3), p.189-247. doi: 10.5771/2192-4007-2015-3-189 . Open Access: http://www.scm.nomos.de/fileadmin/scm/doc/SCM_15_03_00.pdf

Articles in Edited Volumes

Grothe-Hammer, M., Berkowitz, H., & Berthod, O. (2022). Decisional Organization Theory: Towards an Integrated Framework of Organization. In M. Godwyn (Ed.), Research Handbook on the Sociology of Organizations (pp. 30-53). Edward Elgar. (Peer reviewed.) Open Access: https://doi.org/10.4337/9781839103261.00011

Grothe-Hammer, M. (2022). The Communicative Constitution of the World: A Luhmannian View on Communication, Organizations, and Society. In J. Basque, N. Bencherki, & T. Kuhn (eds.), The Routledge Handbook of the Communicative Constitution of Organizations (pp. 88-103). Routledge. Open Access: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003224914-7

Grothe-Hammer, M. (2021). Covid-19 als Gefahr oder Risiko. Warum interessieren uns Infektionstote plötzlich so sehr? In S. Lenz & M. Hasenfratz, Gesellschaft als Risiko: Soziologische Situationsanalysen zur Coronapandemie (pp. 35-47). Frankfurt am Main: Campus

Grothe-Hammer, M. (2019). Die De-Organisation von Organisation? Zu den Konsequenzen des Ersetzens menschlicher Entscheiderinnen und Entscheider durch Algorithmen in Organisationen. [The de-organization of organization? On the consequences of replacing human decision-makers by algorithms in organizations.] In Nicole Burzan (Ed.), Komplexe Dynamiken globaler und lokaler Entwicklungen: Verhandlungen des 39. Kongresses der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Soziologie in Göttingen 2018. You can access the paper here: https://publikationen.soziologie.de/index.php/kongressband_2018/article/view/1183

Grothe-Hammer, M. (2019). Membership or Contributorship? Managing the inclusion of individuals into organizations. In G. Ahrne & N. Brunsson (eds.), Organization outside organizations: The Abundance of Partial Organization in Social Life (pp. 84-112). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Grothe-Hammer, M. & Schoeneborn, D. (2019). The queen bee outlives her own children: A Luhmannian perspective on project-based organizations (PBOs). In: C. Vásquez & T. R. Kuhn (eds.), Dis/organization as communication: Exploring the disordering, disruptive and chaotic properties of communication (pp. 60-79). New York: Routledge.

Berthod, O., Grothe-Hammer, M., & Sydow J. (2018). Inter-organizational ethnography. In A. Bryman, & D.A. Buchanan (eds.), Unconventional Methodology in Organization and Management Research (pp. 212-230). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Berthod, O., Grothe-Hammer, M., & Sydow, J. (2016). Einige Charakeristika von Hochzuverlässigkeitsnetzwerken. In P. Zoche, S. Kaufmann, & H. Arnold (eds.), Grenzenlose Sicherheit? Gesellschaftliche Dimensionen der Sicherheitsforschung (pp. 289–300). Berlin: Lit Verlag.
German translation of: Berthod, O., Grothe-Hammer, M., & Sydow, J. (2015). Some Characteristics of High-Reliability Networks. Journal of Contingencies and Crisis Management, 23(1), 24–28. doi:10.1111/1468-5973.12069

Special Issue

Berkowitz, H., Brunsson, N., Grothe-Hammer, M., Sundberg, M., Valiorgue B. (2022). Special Issue: Meta-Organization. M@n@gement, 25(2). https://management-aims.com/index.php/mgmt/issue/view/530

Grothe-Hammer, M., & la Cour, A. (Eds.). (2020). Special Issue: Organization and Membership. Systems Research and Behavioral Science, 37(3), 417–527. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/toc/10991743a/2020/37/3

Book Reviews

Grothe-Hammer, M. (2015). Book review (in German): Etzioni, Amitai (1975): A Comparative Analysis of Complex Organizations. On Power, Involvement, and Their Correlates. 2. Edition. New York: The Free Press. In S. Kühl (ed.), Schlüsselwerke der Organisationsforschung (pp. 257–260). Wiesbaden: Springer.

Grothe-Hammer, M. (2015). Book Review (in German): Weick, Karl E.; Sutcliffe, Kathleen M. (2007): Managing the Unexpected. Resilient Performance in an Age of Uncertainty. 2. Edition. San Francisco: Wiley. In S. Kühl (ed.), Schlüsselwerke der Organisationsforschung (pp. 734–738). Wiesbaden: Springer.

Other Contributions

Berkowitz, H., Brunsson, N., Grothe-Hammer, M., Sundberg, M., Valiorgue B. (2022). Meta-Organizations: A Clarification and a Way Forward. M@n@gement, 25(2). https://doi.org/10.37725/mgmt.v25.8728

Grothe-Hammer, M., & la Cour, Anders (2020). Organization and membership: Introduction to the Special Issue. Systems Research and Behavioral Science, 37(3), 419-424. Open Access: https://doi.org/10.1002/sres.2682

Conference Contributions

Grothe-Hammer, M. (2021, February). The Social Construction of Climate Change: Are We Stuck between Risk and Danger? International Sociological Association. 4th ISA Forum of Sociology (virtual), Porto Alegre.

Berkowitz, H., & Grothe-Hammer, M. (2021, February). Meta-Organizing for Climate Change. International Sociological Association. 4th ISA Forum of Sociology (virtual), Porto Alegre.

Berkowitz, H., & Grothe-Hammer, M. (2020, July). How can meta-organizations tackle grand challenges? The relevance of decidability and non-decidability in the meta-organizational space in the case of IWC. European Group for Organizational Studies. 36th EGOS Colloquium (virtual), Hamburg.

Grothe-Hammer, M. , & Berkowitz, H. (2019, December). Tackling Societal Grand Challenges: The Relevance of Decidability of Social Orders in a Meta-Organizational Space. Autumn Conference of the Section on Organizational Sociology of the German Sociological Association, Lucerne.

Grothe-Hammer, M., & Berkowitz, H. (2019, July). A theory of organization as decision. European Group for Organizational Studies. 35th EGOS Colloquium, Edinburgh.

Grothe-Hammer, M., & Berkowitz, H. (2019, May). Organization as decision. Workshop “Meta-, Macro-, and Partial Organization: Advances in Research and Theory”, Toulouse.

Grothe-Hammer, M., & Berkowitz, H. (2019, April). A theory of organization as decision. Spring Conference of the Section on Organizational Sociology of the German Sociological Association, Hamburg.

Grothe-Hammer, M. (2018, October). Die De-Organisation von Organisation? Zu den Konsequenzen des Ersetzens menschlicher Entscheider durch Algorithmen in Organisationen. [The de-organization of organization? On the consequences of replacing human decision-makers by algorithms in organizations.] German Sociological Association, Ad-hoc Group „Macht Digitalisierung Organisationen überflüssig?“ [Does digitalization render organizations expandable?]. 39th Congress of the German Sociological Association, Göttingen.

Grothe-Hammer, M., & Schoeneborn, D. (2018, July). The Project-Based Organization (PBO) as the “honeybee queen”: A Luhmannian perspective on the enduring and fading away of organization. European Group for Organizational Studies. 34th EGOS Colloquium, Tallinn.

Besio, C., Grothe-Hammer, M., & Fedtke, C. (2018, July). Big Data and Decision-Making in Insurance Organizations. International Sociological Association. XIX ISA World Congress of Sociology, Toronto.

Grothe-Hammer, M., & Kohl, S. (2018, July). The Decline of Organizational Sociology? An Empirical Analysis of Research Trends in Leading Journals across Half a Century. International Sociological Association. XIX ISA World Congress of Sociology, Toronto.

Grothe-Hammer, M. (2018, May). The consequences of replacing decision-makers by algorithms: On shifts in responsibilities and the de-organization of organizations. Workshop of the Working Group “Digitalization & Organization” of the Section on Organizational Sociology of the German Sociological Association, Berlin.

Muster, J., Grothe-Hammer, M., & Berthod, O. (2018, March). Fear and Loathing at the Workplace: Nature and Effects of Loophole Decoupling. 14th Workshop on New Institutionalism in Organization Theory, Milan.

Besio, C., Fedtke, C., & Grothe-Hammer, M. (2017, December). Big Data und Entscheidungsprozesse: Wandel in der Versicherungsbranche. [Big Data and decision processes: Changes in the insurance sector.] Sections on Organizational Sociology and on Science and Technology Studies of the German Sociological Association. Joint Autumn Conference “Digitalisierung und Reorganisation”, Stuttgart.

Grothe-Hammer, M. (2017, July). From membership to contributorship: Managing the inclusion of individuals into organizations. European Group for Organizational Studies. 33rd EGOS Colloquium, Copenhagen.

Berthod, O., & Grothe-Hammer, M. (2017, July). Cascading Doubt into Individual Responsibilities: How Emergency Responders Harness Profession and Organizational Structure for Continuous Adaptive Sensemaking. European Group for Organizational Studies. 33rd EGOS Colloquium, Copenhagen.

Sydow, J., Berthod, O., Grothe-Hammer, M., & Müller-Seitz, G. (2016, August). Interorganizational Coordinating for Reliability: An Ethnography of a High-Reliability Network. Academy of Management. Academy of Management Annual Meeting, Anaheim.

Besio, C., & Grothe-Hammer, M. (2016, July). From Micro to Meso to Macro and Back: A Systems-Theoretical Framework for Understanding the Relation Between New Organizational Forms (NOFs) and Society. International Sociological Association. 3rd ISA Forum of Sociology, Vienna.

Grothe-Hammer, M. (2016, July). The Non-Addressable Meta-Organization and Its Contribution to High Reliability. International Sociological Association. 3rd ISA Forum of Sociology, Vienna.

Sydow, J., Berthod, O., Grothe, M., & Hagen, R. (2016, July). Does network design matter?: How interorganizational networks balance mandated structures and situatedness in crisis situations. European Group for Organizational Studies. 32nd EGOS Colloquium, Naples.

Berthod, O., Grothe-Hammer, M., Müller-Seitz, G., & Sydow, J. (2015, August). From HRO to HRN: Dynamics of Network Governance in the Face of Emergency. Academy of Management. Academy of Management Meeting, Vancouver. doi: 10.5465/AMBPP.2015.11138a

Sydow, J., Berthod, O., Grothe-Hammer, M., & Müller-Seitz, G. (2015, July). Coordinating for reliability? A practice-based perspective on high-reliability networks. European Group for Organizational Studies. 31th EGOS Colloquium, Athens.

Berthod, O., Grothe-Hammer, M., Müller-Seitz, G., & Sydow, J. (2014, July). From high-reliability organizations to high-reliability networks? Collective organizing in the face of emergency. European Group for Organizational Studies. 30th EGOS Colloquium, Rotterdam.

Grothe-Hammer, M., & Sydow, J. (2014, May). Network Ethnography? – Analysing a Multi-organisational Emergency Response Network using a Mixed Method Approach. Social Network Analysis Study Group (SNAG) of the British Sociological Association (BSA), Middlesex University, & University of Greenwich. Conference: Mixed-method approaches to social network analysis, London.

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