Research output per year
Research output per year
Curriculum Vitae
Links
Research areas
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.
Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Article in proceedings › Research › peer-review
Research output: Working paper › Research
Research output: Contribution to journal › Conference article › Research › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review
Research output: Working paper › Research
Billinger, S. (Guest lecturer), Benincasa, S. (Co-author) & Baumann, O. (Co-author)
Activity: Talks and presentations › Conference presentations
Billinger, S. (Guest lecturer), Benincasa, S. (Co-author), Baumann, O. (Co-author) & Schumacher, T. (Co-author)
Activity: Talks and presentations › Conference presentations
Lauenstein, F. (Speaker), Baumann, O. (Co-author) & Wahle, T. (Co-author)
Activity: Talks and presentations › Talks and presentations in private or public companies
Baumann, O. (Co-author), Lauenstein, F. (Speaker) & Newark, D. (Co-author)
Activity: Talks and presentations › Conference presentations
Baumann, O. (Co-author), Sump, F. (Speaker) & Wahle, T. (Co-author)
Activity: Talks and presentations › Conference presentations
Sampó, G. (PhD student), Becker, M. (Supervisor), Baumann, O. (Project participant) & Peressotti, M. (Co-supervisor)
01/02/2024 → 31/01/2027
Project: PhD Project
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
Baumann, O. (PI)
01/09/2017 → 31/08/2022
Project: Research
Baumann, O. (PI), Billinger, S. (Co-PI) & Knudsen, T. T. (Co-PI)
15/11/2018 → 31/12/2019
Project: Research
Baumann, O. (PI), Billinger, S. (Co-PI) & Knudsen, T. T. (Co-PI)
15/11/2018 → 31/12/2018
Project: Research
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
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
01/02/2024
1 Media contribution
Press/Media: Press / Media
16/11/2023
1 Media contribution
Press/Media: Press / Media
16/11/2023
1 Media contribution
Press/Media: Press / Media
| Becker, M. & Baumann, O. 01/01/2010 → 24/12/2026 |
Course: Teaching and supervision › Teaching
| Baumann, O. 01/02/2019 → 31/08/2026 |
Course: Teaching and supervision › Teaching
| Baumann, O. & Becker, M. 01/02/2017 → 30/06/2026 |
Course: Teaching and supervision › Teaching
| Becker, M. 01/02/2019 → 31/08/2023 |
Course: Teaching and supervision › Teaching
| Becker, M. & Baumann, O. 01/02/2023 → 30/06/2023 |
Course: Teaching and supervision › Teaching