Prof. Dr. Karl Baumann – publications

Baumann, K. (2005)
Organisation der Strategie
(Organisation of the Strategy)
Carl-Auer Publishing

The text sharpens the eye for the difference between theory and practice in order to deconstruct the persistent promises of “truth” and success of economic and organizational theories. It offers a critique of the major theories of strategy and organization based on presuppositions. Through the precise reproduction of the world of thought (in the personification of the artistic form “Vitalis”) that the author developed during extensive organizational consulting projects, a path is constructed between “useless theory” and unruly practical experience.

The text is exceptional in every respect. It offers a critical discussion without a clear beginning or end, replacing the usual linear arguments, abstract idealistic statements, and model speculations.

The object of investigation is not tampered with until it fits a method. The author, with experience, begins with the openness and uncertainty in the organization of strategy and makes this a tangible topic.

Baumann, K. (2002)
Zur Wertigkeit von „gut“ und „schlecht“
(On the value of “good” and “bad”)
Carl-Auer Publishing

This book represents an attempt to describe “truths” that were previously only intuitively perceptible. The construct of ‘performance’ and its ‘measurement’ and ‘evaluation’ as ‘good’ and ‘bad’ are hardly rationally comprehensible and are largely used, if not employed, in dogmatic contexts (churches, businesses, schools, etc.).

Why is one better than another, one better than another, more better than less? What determines how something is evaluated, and what happens in the process?

The illusion of reality and the seemingly simple question of ‘better’ are crystallizing into a breaking point. The meaning of our actions and our imagined understanding of the concept of ‘performance’, in its value so far-reaching for our society, are disillusioned by the ‘theory of the large’ (theory of relativity) and the ‘theory of the small’ (quantum physics). From a social science perspective in the context of these two theories, the text attempts to decisively unveil the concepts of ‘performance’, ‘measurement’ and ‘evaluation’ in order to develop new ways of thinking and applying them.

Baumann, K. (2007)
Freedom, Equality, Teaching. Narratively Designing Seminars
in: NHH – New Handbook of University Teaching 2 29 07 08, E 3.5

Baumann, K. (2004)
Strategy and Politics. A Critical Reflection on the 2000 Chamber of Commerce Reform – A Paradoxical Attempt
Karl-Franzens-Universität Graz

Baumann, K. (2002)
From Performance to Transformation
in: HLO-inside 2/02, Zurich (HLOmanagementforum-Zürich)

Baumann, K./ Nausner, P. (2001)
The Reform of the Chambers of Commerce as an Organizational Reform
in: Wirtschaftspolitische Blätter, 6/2001, Wien