Teaching Concept

Peter Drucker, a highly influential business thinker, once said that “the organization is, above, all social”. My teaching philosophy is grounded in this simple and yet complex conclusion. As an organizational researcher specializing in organizational behavior and psychology, my goal is to equip students with a scientific understanding of the importance of behavior and psychological processes within organizations. Students participating in my courses will learn that behavior within and between organizations is a function of individual, group-, and organization-level factors. 

To enable students to understand organizational behavior as a holistic concept, I draw from several theoretical perspectives that stem from diverse fields such as work and organizational psychology, management and economics as well as sociology. One of my most important didactic goals is to engage students and to encourage them to think critically and “out of the box”. I use a variety of teaching techniques such as case studies and business simulations, group decision exercises, and role play to enable experiential learning to practice application of theoretical concepts and knowledge to organizational problems.

Teaching Portfolio

For example, students in the "Leadership and Organization" class, will learn how individual attitudes and personality affect organizational performance, how different leadership styles can affect individual motivation, why status and power often impair group/organizational decision-making, how organizational culture emerges and affects organizational effectiveness, and how resistance to organizational change can be overcome. In my Research Seminar "Challenges in Diversity Management", students will learn why diversity is both a blessing and a challenge within organizations, why  stereotypes about social groups are pervasive and how discrimination be alleviated through diversity practices and policies.

Teaching Experience

I have gained international research and teaching experience at different Universities and research institutions including NYU Stern School of Business at New York University (USA), ETH Zurich, Department of Management, Technology, and Economics, the University of Queensland (Australia), the University of Konstanz, the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg (Germany). I have also developed and implemented crises resource management trainings for medical staff at the University Hospital in Zurich, Switzerland, and at the Bellevue Hospital in New York City (USA).

3-Semester Plan

This Summer Term, I am teaching the Research Seminar “Challenges in Diversity Management” (BSc). You can find my complete 3-semester teaching curriculum here.