Personal profile
Curriculum
Curriculum Vitae
Links
Research areas
- Organizational Learning & Adaptation
- Behavioral Strategy & Decision-Making
- Organization Design
- Computational Modeling of Complex Adaptive Systems
Bio
I am a Professor of Strategy and Organization Design and head of the Strategic Organization Design research unit at the Department of Business and Management. In addition, I am affiliated with the Digital Democracy Center.
My research explores the architecture of adaptation: how organizations design structures and decision processes to learn and innovate in uncertain environments. I treat organizations as complex adaptive systems, using computational modeling (NK landscapes, reinforcement learning), experiments, field studies, and digital trace data to understand how formal design interacts with human behavior.
My current work focuses on three distinct organizational contexts:
-
Traditional hierarchies: How performance feedback shapes search. I examine how individuals interpret and report information, revealing the role of social comparison in driving experimentation and the paradoxical benefits of “sugarcoating” bad news.
-
Human-AI systems: How structures adapt to algorithmic influence. I investigate how decision rights evolve when AI augments human judgment, and how platform dominance reshapes news ecosystems and democratic discourse.
-
Decentralized networks: How coordination emerges without hierarchy. I explore Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs) as socio-technical systems, investigating the possibilities and limits of replacing managerial authority with algorithmic code.
I am a co-editor of the Journal of Organization Design and serve on the editorial boards of Academy of Management Discoveries, Organization Science, and the Strategic Management Journal. My research has been published in Administrative Science Quarterly, Journal of Management, Organization Science, the Strategic Management Journal, and others outlets.
I received a PhD in Business Economics from LMU Munich, an MS in Industrial Engineering and Management from Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, and an MS in Engineering Management from Portland State University. Before joining SDU, I was an Assistant Professor at LMU Munich and a visiting scholar at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.
Keywords
- Strategic Organizational Design
- Organizational Learning
- Organizational Theory
- Strategic Management
Fingerprint
- 1 Similar Researchers
Collaborations and top research areas from the last five years
-
What We Talk About When We Talk About DAOs: An Integrated Socio-Technical Framework
Sampò, G., Baumann, O. & Peressotti, M., 2026, 59th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, HICSS 2026, Hyatt Regency Maui, Hawaii, USA, January 6-9, 2026. Bui, T. X. (ed.). ScholarSpace, p. 5570-5579 10 p.Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Article in proceedings › Research › peer-review
Open Access -
Autonomous AI imitators increase diversity in homogeneous information ecosystems
Johansen, E. B. & Baumann, O., 20. Mar 2025, (In preparation) arXiv.Research output: Working paper › Research
File73 Downloads (Pure) -
Hierarchies of Adaptation: Structuring Organizational Exploration in Dynamic Environments
Ungureanu, T. S. V., Srikanth, K. & Baumann, O., Jul 2025, In: Academy of Management Proceedings. 2025, 1Research output: Contribution to journal › Conference article › Research › peer-review
-
How mixed performance feedback shapes exploration: the moderating role of self-enhancement
Lauenstein, F., Newark, D. A. & Baumann, O., Jan 2025, In: Organization Science. 36, 1, p. 166-185Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review
Open AccessFile75 Downloads (Pure) -
Platform Bypass and Societal Change: Informal Collaboration in the Danish News Ecosystem
Johansen, E. B. & Baumann, O., 2025, (In preparation) SSRN.Research output: Working paper › Research
Activities
-
Searching Complex Landscapes: How Dyads and Individuals Differ in Responding to Part-Whole Feedback
Billinger, S. (Guest lecturer), Benincasa, S. (Co-author) & Baumann, O. (Co-author)
2023 → …Activity: Talks and presentations › Conference presentations
-
How dyads overcome complexity and misaligned incentives in imperfect modular decompositions
Billinger, S. (Guest lecturer), Benincasa, S. (Co-author), Baumann, O. (Co-author) & Schumacher, T. (Co-author)
2022 → …Activity: Talks and presentations › Conference presentations
-
Decentralized Exploration and Information Asymmetries
Lauenstein, F. (Speaker), Baumann, O. (Co-author) & Wahle, T. (Co-author)
7. Dec 2021Activity: Talks and presentations › Talks and presentations in private or public companies
-
Peer Performance Feedback, Self-Enhancement, and Exploration
Baumann, O. (Co-author), Lauenstein, F. (Speaker) & Newark, D. (Co-author)
24. Sept 2021Activity: Talks and presentations › Conference presentations
-
Sugarcoating and Exploration in Decentralized Organizational Structures
Baumann, O. (Co-author), Sump, F. (Speaker) & Wahle, T. (Co-author)
6. Aug 2021Activity: Talks and presentations › Conference presentations
-
Understanding DAOs challenges and opportunities for contrasting climate change
Sampó, G. (PhD student), Becker, M. (Supervisor), Baumann, O. (Project participant) & Peressotti, M. (Co-supervisor)
01/02/2024 → 31/01/2027
Project: PhD Project
-
Learning to Search Collaboratively under Epistemic Interdependence and Misaligned Incentives
Billinger, S. (PI), Benincasa, S. (Project participant), Baumann, O. (Project participant), Kretschmer, T. (Project participant) & Schumacher, T. R. (Project participant)
01/09/2020 → 31/08/2022
Project: Research
-
Control: Controlling Innovation in Complex Organizations
Baumann, O. (PI)
01/09/2017 → 31/08/2022
Project: Research
-
Developing and Implementing Strategy
Baumann, O. (PI), Billinger, S. (Co-PI) & Knudsen, T. T. (Co-PI)
15/11/2018 → 31/12/2019
Project: Research
-
Organizing for Innovation and Performance
Baumann, O. (PI), Billinger, S. (Co-PI) & Knudsen, T. T. (Co-PI)
15/11/2018 → 31/12/2018
Project: Research
Datasets
-
The Blind Men and the Elephant - Mapping Interdisciplinarity in Research on Decentralized Autonomous Organizations
Sampó, G. (Creator), Baumann, O. (Creator) & Peressotti, M. (Creator), Zenodo, 11. Sept 2025
DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.17099852, https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.14867816
Dataset
-
The Blind Men and the Elephant - Mapping Interdisciplinarity in Research on Decentralized Autonomous Organizations
Sampo, G. (Creator), Baumann, O. (Creator) & Peressotti, M. (Creator), Zenodo, 13. Feb 2025
DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.14867817, https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.14867816
Dataset
Press/Media
-
Afgående DSV-topchef kommenterer exit før tid
01/02/2024
1 Media contribution
Press/Media: Press / Media
-
DSV i svær øvelse: Iagttagere ser tæt makkerskab som nøglen til langt chefskifte
16/11/2023
1 Media contribution
Press/Media: Press / Media
-
DSV i svær øvelse: Iagttagere ser tæt makkerskab som nøglen til langt chefskifte
16/11/2023
1 Media contribution
Press/Media: Press / Media
-
Teaching & Supervision
-
Corporate Strategy & Organization Design (MSc) (since 2010)
Becker, M. & Baumann, O. 01/01/2010 → 24/12/2026
Course: Teaching and supervision › Teaching
-
Organization of Innovation (since 2019)
Baumann, O. 01/02/2019 → 31/08/2026
Course: Teaching and supervision › Teaching
-
Organization of innovation (MSc) (since 2017)
Baumann, O. & Becker, M. 01/02/2017 → 30/06/2026
Course: Teaching and supervision › Teaching
-
Corporate Strategy and Organization Design
Becker, M. 01/02/2019 → 31/08/2023
Course: Teaching and supervision › Teaching
-
Organization of Innovation
Becker, M. & Baumann, O. 01/02/2023 → 30/06/2023
Course: Teaching and supervision › Teaching