Working with Ed Schein

Together with Prof. Gerhard Fatzer, PhD, Trias Institute, I had the honor and great pleasure of working for several years with Prof. Edgar H. Schein, Emeritus MIT Sloan School of Management (1928–2023), one of the co-founders of organizational development. On the one hand, I was able to learn a great deal about the fascinating facets of organizational development directly from the spiritus rector of the discipline, and on the other, I was able to catch up on Ed’s exciting family history (see my HWZ/Trias conference keynote in 2017, Learning Journey to Trstena). I have thus succeeded in tracing the history of his ancestors in Trsztena in Upper Hungary and Trstena in Czechoslovakia in detail (see my article A Learning Journey to Trstená According to Edgar H. Schein’s «Organizational Culture Model»). I felt overwhelmed and honored by how Ed had evaluated my research:

«Daniel Schmid has opened up an important new research field—historical ethnography—in tracking down some of my family origins in communities that deliberately hid them because of fears of the Nazi anti-semitism. This was not only of great value to me but revealed some historical details of how a powerful evil ideology can be so threatening that it not only kills existing people but scares communities into wiping out the identities of former residents. This research is an important contribution to both social psychology and political science because we see similar uses of fear mongering in today’s autocratic leaders.» (Edgar H. Schein, 05.03.1928 – 26.01.2023)

Our fruitful cooperation with Ed lasted until 2023 and produced several significant scientific contributions to organizational development, including books, video statements and timeless ideas that Gerhard Fatzer and myself would like to share with you:

From start-ups to mature organizations, all teams and organizations need cultural work. In the age of globalization and digital competition, unprejudiced leadership and cultural development are therefore of central importance. As friends from the circle of Ed Schein, we encourage an international dialogue on the «Art of Change» in the age of digitalization and bring together German and American approaches. The precise descriptions of the fundamentals of sustainable organizational development can be used directly in projects and transformation processes. Here are our results, please help us to preserve Ed Schein’s work for future generations:

2024: Gerhard Fatzer / Anne Fanenbruck (Ed.): Organisationsentwicklung als Kunst. Veränderung durch Dialog und vorurteilslose Führung. Hommage an Edgar H. Schein [Organizational Development as an Art. Change through Dialogue and unprejudiced Leadership. Homage to Edgar H. Schein], Psychosozial-Verlag, Giessen 2024.

2021: Gerhard Fatzer / Daniel C. Schmid (Ed.): Kunst der Veränderung. Vorurteilslose Führung und Organisationsentwicklung [The Art of Change. Humble Leadership and Organizational Development], Psychosozial-Verlag, Giessen 2021.

2020: A Manifesto of the Pioneers of Change, together with Edgar H. Schein, Amy C. Edmondson, C. Otto Scharmer, and Peter M. Senge (based on 4 individual video sessions organized by MounaLife, Gerhard Fatzer, and myself).

2019: Gerhard Fatzer / John van Maanen / Daniel C. Schmid / Wolfgang Weber (Ed.): Edgar H. Schein – The Spirit of Inquiry. innsbruck university press, Innsbruck 2019.

2017: HWZ / Trias Conference «Humble Leadership» with online keynote by Edgar H. Schein (Zurich, 23.05.2017)

• Video statement 01 «Edgar H. Schein about Humble Leadership»
• Video statement 02 «Edgar H. Schein about Organizational Development»
• Video statement 03 «Edgar H. Schein about Holacracy»
• Video statement 04 «Edgar H. Schein about Future CEOs»
• Video statement 05 «Edgar H. Schein about Personal Mindsets»

2017: Interview Edgar H. Schein: «CEOs sollten dringend demütiger werden» [«CEOs urgently need to become more humble»], HR Today 05/2017.

Together with Ed’s son, Peter A. Schein, co-founder of scheinocli.org, we will carry on Ed’s powerful fire to preserve freedom of thought, as quoted in the 2020 Manifesto of the Pioneers of Change, together with Edgar H. Schein, Amy C. Edmondson, C. Otto Scharmer, and Peter M. Senge. Typical of Ed, he has seen the Covid-19 pandemic as an opportunity to be prepared for future incidents:

«But as social scientists we have been educated to think out-of-the-box, so let’s not abdicate our responsibilities and fail to use some of the skills that we do have, and take advantage, at least to speak up. The coronavirus has provided us an incredible opportunity. If we don’t speak up now, it might be too late when the global warming virus becomes the next global pandemic.»

Coda: For all of you who want to delve deeper into Ed’s seminal work, we highly recommend the following article published by MIT: «Organizational Culture: 5 enduring management ideas from MIT Sloan’s Edgar Schein».