Oliver Baumann

Oliver Baumann

Professor of Strategy and Organization Design

Research and Publications

My research explores how organizations adapt under complexity and uncertainty, with a focus on organizational search, organization design, behavioral strategy, and decentralized governance.

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2026

  • What We Talk About When We Talk About DAOs: An Integrated Socio-Technical Framework (Giorgia Sampo, Oliver Baumann and Marco Peressotti). Proceedings of the 59th Hawaii International Conference on Systems Science Paper

  • Pathways to Performance: A Configurational Analysis of Consensus in DAOs (Oliver Alexy, Oliver Baumann, Ying-Ying Hsieh and Giorgia Sampo). Proceedings of the 59th Hawaii International Conference on Systems Science Paper

  • Pick Up the Slack: Modelling Resource Availability and Search Processes in Organizations (Oliver Baumann and Stefano Benincasa). In Friederike Wall, Shuhen Cheng, and Stefan Leitner (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Agent-based Computational Management, Oxford University Press (Forthcoming)

2025

  • Hierarchies of Adaptation: Structuring Exploration in Dynamic Environments (Tiberiu Ungureanu, Kannan Srikanth and Oliver Baumann). Academy of Management Best Paper Proceedings

  • How Mixed Performance Feedback Shapes Exploration: The Moderating Role of Self-Enhancement (Franziska Lauenstein, Daniel Newark and Oliver Baumann). Organization Science, 36(1), 166-185 DOI


    Discussed on: source 1

  • The Blind Men and the Elephant: Mapping Interdisciplinarity in Research on Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (Giorgia Sampo, Oliver Baumann and Marco Peressotti). Journal of Organization Design, 14(4), 239-263 DOI

2024

  • Digital Twins (Oliver Baumann and Brian Wu (eds.)). Journal of Organization Design, 13(3)

2023

  • Managers and Managerial Hierarchy (Oliver Baumann and Brian Wu (eds.)). Journal of Organization Design, 12(1-2)

  • Organizing for Good: Using Organization Design to take on Grand Challenges (Oliver Baumann, Gerald F. Davis, Sven Kunisch, Jao Luo and Brian Wu). Journal of Organization Design, 12(4), 165-176 DOI

  • Learning to Search Collaboratively: How Dyads Overcome Complexity and Misaligned Incentives in Imperfect Modular Decompositions (Stephan Billinger, Stefano Benincasa, Oliver Baumann, Tobias Kretschmer and Terry Schumacher). Industrial and Corporate Change, 32(1), 208-233 DOI

  • Managerial Hierarchy in AI-driven Organizations (Oliver Baumann and Brian Wu). Journal of Organization Design, 12(1-2), 1-5 DOI

2022

  • The Upside of Sugarcoating: Inaccurate Performance Reporting and Exploration in Organizations (Oliver Baumann, Franziska Lauenstein and Thorsten Wahle). Academy of Management Best Paper Proceedings

  • Designing Flat Organizations (Oliver Baumann and Brian Wu (eds.)). Journal of Organization Design, 11(1)

  • Evolutionary Processes and Organizational Adaptation (Oliver Baumann and Brian Wu (eds.)). Journal of Organization Design, 11(3)

  • The many dimensions of research on designing flat firms (Oliver Baumann and Brian Wu). Journal of Organization Design, 11(1), 1-3 DOI

2021

  • Editorial Vol. 10 (Oliver Baumann, John Joseph, Metin Sengul and Brian Wu). Journal of Organization Design, 10(1), 1-2

2020

  • Ensuring Adaptation while Seeking Efficiency: Tiered Outsourcing and Skip-level Supplier Ties in the Airbus A350 Program (Oliver Baumann, Markus C. Becker and Isabel Horrmann). Organization Science, 31(5), 1176-1197 DOI

2019

  • Colleagues and Competitors: How Internal Social Comparisons Shape Organizational Search and Adaptation (Oliver Baumann, JP Eggers and Nils Stieglitz). Administrative Science Quarterly, 64(2), 275-309 DOI


    Discussed on: source 1, source 2, source 3

  • Effective Search in Rugged Performance Landscapes: A Review and Outlook (Oliver Baumann, Jens Schmidt and Nils Stieglitz). Journal of Management, 45(1), 285-318 DOI

2018

  • Internal Comparisons Between Managers: From Performance Management to Organizational Learning (Oliver Baumann). Ledelse i Udvikling, 5, 38-39

  • Reviewing, Revisiting and Renewing the Foundations of Organization Design (John Joseph, Oliver Baumann, Richard Burton and Kannan Srikanth). In Organization Design, Advances in Strategic Management, Vol. 40, Emerald Group Publishing DOI

  • Organization Design (John Joseph, Oliver Baumann, Richard Burton and Kannan Srikanth (eds.)). Advances in Strategic Management, Vol. 40, Emerald Publishing

  • Rocket Internet: Organizing a Startup Factory (Oliver Baumann, Carsten Bergenholtz, Lars Frederiksen, Robert M. Grant, Rebecca Kohler, David L. Preston and Scott Shane). Journal of Organization Design, 7, 13 DOI

2015

  • Distributed Problem Solving in Modular Systems: The Benefit of Temporary Coordination Neglect (Oliver Baumann). Systems Research and Behavioral Science, 32(1), 124-136 DOI

  • Models of Complex Adaptive Systems in Strategy and Organization Research (Oliver Baumann). Mind and Society, 14(2), 169-183 DOI

2014

  • Don’t Offer Employees Big Rewards for Innovation (Oliver Baumann and Nils Stieglitz). Harvard Business Review, 12 June 2014 Paper

  • Learning from a Drastic Failure: Lessons from the Airbus A380 Program (Isabel Dorfler and Oliver Baumann). Industry and Innovation, 21(3), 197-214 DOI

  • Rewarding Value-Creating Ideas in Organizations: The Power of Low-Powered Incentives (Oliver Baumann and Nils Stieglitz). Strategic Management Journal, 35(3), 358-375 DOI

2013

  • Dealing with Complexity: Integrated vs. Chunky Search Processes (Oliver Baumann and Nicolaj Siggelkow). Organization Science, 24(1), 116-132 DOI

2012

  • Complexity in the Telecommunications Industry: When Integrating Infrastructure and Services Backfires (Nico Grove and Oliver Baumann). Telecommunications Policy, 36(1), 40-50 DOI

2011

  • Complexity in the Telecommunications Industry: The Challenge of Reconciling Bitpipe and Services (Nico Grove and Oliver Baumann). Proceedings of the 11th Pacific Telecommunications Council

  • Complexity and Competitive Advantage (Oliver Baumann and Nicolaj Siggelkow). In SAGE Handbook of Complexity and Management, edited by Peter Allen, Steve Maguire, Bill McKelvey, SAGE, 494-505

  • Evaluating the New: The Contingent Value of a Pro-Innovation Bias (Oliver Baumann and Dirk Martignoni). Schmalenbach Business Review, 63(4), 349-371 DOI

2010

  • Search, Failure, and the Value of Moderate Patience (Oliver Baumann). Schmalenbach Business Review, 62(3), 233-258 DOI

2009

  • Innovation in komplexen Systemen: Wann zahlt es sich aus, Fehlschlage geduldig zu tolerieren? (Oliver Baumann). zfo - Zeitschrift Fuhrung und Organisation, 4, 240-244

  • The Relevance of Organization Theory to the Field of Business and Information Systems Engineering (Arnold Picot and Oliver Baumann). Business and Information Systems Engineering, 1(1), 62-69 DOI


    German version in Wirtschaftsinformatik, 51(1), 72-81

2008

  • Chunky vs. Incremental Growth: How to Expand a Search Domain (Oliver Baumann and Nicolaj Siggelkow). Academy of Management Best Paper Proceedings

  • Firm Boundary Decisions: The Market for Health-Related R&D Services with an Empirical Case Study for Germany (Oliver Baumann and Hariolf Grupp). International Economics and Economic Policy, 5(3), 297-321 DOI

2007

  • Die verteilte Entwicklung komplexer Systeme: Grenzen der Modularitat und Fahigkeiten zur Systemintegration (Arnold Picot and Oliver Baumann). In Ulrich Blum, Andreas Eckstein, and Andrea Eckstein (eds.), Wirtschaftsinformatik im Fokus der Modernen Wissensokonomik, TUDpress, 335-352

  • When Less Is More (and When It Isn’t): High-level Coordination in Modular Systems (Oliver Baumann). Proceedings of the R&D Management Conference

  • Modularitat in der verteilten Entwicklung komplexer Systeme: Chancen, Grenzen, Implikationen (Arnold Picot and Oliver Baumann). Journal fur Betriebswirtschaft, 57(3-4), 221-246 DOI

2003

  • On the Application of Data Envelopment Analysis to R&D Project Selection (Oliver Baumann). Proceedings of Portland International Conference on the Management of Engineering and Technology

Undated

  • Feedback and Foresight: Adapting to the Asymmetric Ratcheting of External Goals (Oliver Baumann, Matthias Mahlendorf and Zhiyan Wu).

  • Balancing, Wandering, or Myopia? Search under Ambiguous Feedback (Stefano Benincasa, Stephan Billinger and Oliver Baumann).

  • What We Talk About When We Talk About DAOs: An Integrated Socio-Technical Framework (Giorgia Sampo, Oliver Baumann and Marco Peressotti).

  • Pathways to Performance: A Configurational Analysis of Consensus in DAOs (Oliver Alexy, Oliver Baumann, Ying-Ying Hsieh and Giorgia Sampo).

  • Platform Reliance: How External Producers’ Use of Platform Content Shapes Product Similarity (Emil Bakkensen Johansen and Oliver Baumann).

  • Platform Bypass: Informal Collaboration and Ecosystem Adaptation in Crisis Times (Emil Bakkensen Johansen and Oliver Baumann).

  • Autonomous AI Imitators Increase Diversity in Homogeneous Information Ecosystems (Emil Bakkensen Johansen and Oliver Baumann).

  • Hierarchies of Adaptation: Structuring Exploration in Dynamic Environments (Tiberiu Ungureanu, Kannan Srikanth and Oliver Baumann).

  • Lipstick on a Skunk: How Misrepresenting Lower-Level Performance Can Promote Organizational Exploration (Franziska Lauenstein, Thorsten Wahle, Oliver Baumann and Daniel Newark).