Dieter Frey (psychologist)

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Dieter Frey (born June 27, 1946 in Röt ) is a German social and organizational psychologist .

Dieter Frey

Life

Frey did his Abitur at the commercial high school in Rastatt . He studied social sciences ( psychology , economics , pedagogy and sociology ) in Mannheim and Hamburg . After graduating in 1970, he worked at the interdisciplinary collaborative research center “Decision Research” at the University of Mannheim (with the participation of economists, lawyers and psychologists). He received his doctorate in 1973 on the subject of "Processing self-threatening information" with Martin Irle and Hans Albert . From 1976 to 1977 he received a postdoctoral fellowship from the German Research Foundation and the Volkswagen Foundation , during which he spent longer periods in the USA in Austin (Texas) and Madison (Wisconsin) . In 1978 Frey completed his habilitation at the University of Mannheim on “Information Processing in Decision-Making” and was then until 1993 Professor of Social and Organizational Psychology at the Christian Albrechts University in Kiel . In 1989/1990 he was Theodor Heuss Professor at the Graduate Faculty of the New School for Social Research in New York . Since 1993 he has held the chair for social psychology at the Ludwig Maximilians University (LMU) in Munich and since 2007 head of the LMU Center for Leadership and People Management , an institution of the Excellence Initiative . For many years he was dean of Faculty 11 at the LMU Munich. He was also a reviewer at the German Research Foundation for about ten years. Before his time in Munich, he had received offers from the universities of Bielefeld, Bochum, Heidelberg, Hamburg and Zurich.

Frey conducts research in the areas of decision-making behavior in groups, teamwork , leadership , increasing creativity and motivation, and advocates the transfer between science and practice. In total, his work includes around 600 publications in scientific journals, book chapters, books and newspapers.

honors and awards

Frey is the recipient of the German Psychology Prize 1998 ("Psychologist of the Year"). In 2011 he was recognized by the magazine Personalmagazin as a “practical ethicist” and one of the leading figures in the human resources sector in Germany. In 2016 he was the winner of the Dr. Margrit Egnér Foundation of the University of Zurich with the dedication of having "made the world a little fairer and more humane through his research". In 2016 he received the Martin Irle Prize for good promotion of young talent from the German Society for Psychology for his achievements in inspiring students, doctoral candidates and post-doctoral candidates in an extraordinary way for a scientific career and supporting them in various career phases up to a professorship. Over 25 professors from the fields of social psychology, organizational psychology and motivational psychology have completed their habilitation with Dieter Frey, and around 100 scientists have completed their doctorates with him in Kiel and Munich.

research

Ethical leadership

According to Frey, the term ethically-oriented leadership (in the sense of role model, responsibility, obligation and trust) describes the connection between performance and humanity, a culture of excellence (top performance, innovation, quality, sustainability) as well as respect and appreciation (implementation of human dignity) . The three cultures stand for the philosophies of Karl Popper (culture of excellence), Immanuel Kant (culture of appreciation) and Hans Jonas (culture of ethically-oriented leadership).

Frey has developed a principle model of leadership and motivation, the principles of which were derived from psychological theories. This includes the principles

  • conveying meaning and vision,
  • fit and suitability (performing tasks that are fun and enjoyable),
  • transparency through information and communication,
  • autonomy (opportunities to participate),
  • the clarity of goals and expectations,
  • positive and critical feedback,
  • of appreciation,
  • of fairness,
  • involvement and social support, and
  • of growth.

According to Frey, the implementation of these principles creates the opportunity for trust, identification with the task, the manager and the organization as well as increased intrinsic motivation and performance.

Moral courage

Frey's research on civil courage shows that knowledge and action skills promote civil courage. If, for example, knowledge, skills and values ​​are conveyed through civil courage training so that the perceived competence and safety increases in emergency situations, those affected show an increased willingness to intervene in emergency situations and help victims.

Change management

Frey's research identified the following success factors for change management in social and commercial organizations:

  • Availability of a positive, emotional vision
  • Deriving concrete goals
  • Diagnosis of the actual status and the discrepancy to the target status
  • Concrete action steps to reduce the discrepancy between the actual and target state
  • Clarification of responsibilities for the implementation of the action steps
  • Communicating the meaning of change
  • Opportunities for participation, imparting of necessary skills
  • Definition of the time frame
  • Active controlling and continuous information on the status of changes

Group dynamics

Frey's research also referred to individual and group decisions, in particular the problem of the selective search for information before and after group decisions. Accordingly, the phenomenon of group thinking can be reduced through heterogeneous occupation, the so-called devil's advocate and through responsibility not only for the decision results, but above all for the process of the result.

Coping Cognition

Frey's research on recovery from accidents and illnesses shows that so-called helplessness cognitions (why me? It was avoidable? I am to blame) significantly delay the recovery process, while so-called coping cognitions (I see recovery as a challenge, I can do a lot myself Contribute to recovery, I activate support in my personal environment, I remain optimistic) Accelerate the recovery process. These mental requirements can be changed through exemplary behavior as well as through reinforcement.

innovation

According to Frey, so-called center-of-excellence cultures, which must be implemented in organizations in order to promote innovation, are decisive. These include: customer orientation culture (what do / need customers and the market?), Benchmark culture (what do the best do?), Problem-solving culture (employees must see themselves as problem-solvers), error culture (errors as a starting point and opportunity for improvement), culture of dispute and conflict (Conflict as an opportunity for creative solutions). The implementation of these cultures is a necessary condition for the continuous improvement of products, services and processes. In addition, according to Frey's research, perceived fairness (result fairness, procedural fairness, interactional fairness, informational fairness) is a prerequisite for creativity and innovation.

Control theoretical research

Frey and Helmut Rez have published an analysis of the emergence of National Socialism and the Holocaust , which attempts to analyze the processes after the First World War in terms of control theory (in political, social, economic and military systems). According to the analysis, the Weimar Republic caused a loss of control in many subsegments of the population . Hitler's National Socialist Party took up this loss of control with the intention of restoring control by promising numerous activities ( occupation of the Rhineland , annexation of Austria , elimination of all resistance, etc.). Both the enemy inside ( Jews ) and the enemy outside (Russia) were supportive of increasing internal group solidarity . The process of taking power by the National Socialists and the process of eliminating all resistance is analyzed (not necessarily “explained”) by the theory of cognitive control.

Philosophy of science

According to Frey, science should be both basic research, applied research and the application of research. In Popper's sense, science not only serves to accumulate knowledge, but it should also be able to be used to solve problems. Furthermore, science is always also educational science. According to Frey, the aim of empirical science is to generate and test theories. Good theories have five functions:

  1. Analyze and describe phenomena,
  2. Explain phenomena
  3. Predict phenomena,
  4. Derive intervention measures,
  5. Enlightenment function about critical conditions of reality.

Memberships

Frey has been a member of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences since 1996 . He is a member of the ESMT Visiting Faculty (European School of Management & Technology, Berlin) and seminar leader at the university seminar of the German economy of ESMT Berlin on the topic of leadership of employees . Frey is a member of the scientific advisory board of several institutions such as the Huber-Hogrefe, the Roman-Herzog-Institut and the NS Documentation Center in Munich . From 2003 to 2013 Frey was the academic director of the Bavarian Elite Academy . In 2010 he was co-founder of the German initiative Generation D (How do you advance Germany?) And a. in cooperation with the German Elite Academy . From 1988 to 1996 he was an expert reviewer for the German Research Foundation . From 1992 to 1996 he was chairman of the specialist committee for psychology in cooperation with Niels Birbaumer .

Publications (selection)

  • Bierhoff, H.-W. & Frey D. (Eds.) (2006). Handbook of Social Psychology and Communication Psychology. Göttingen: Hogrefe.
  • Bierhoff, H.-W. & Frey D. (Eds.) (2011). Bachelor's degree in Psychology: Social Psychology - Individual and Social World. Göttingen: Hogrefe.
  • Frey, D. & Bierhoff, H.-W. (Ed.) (2011). Bachelor's degree in Psychology: Social Psychology - Interaction and Group. Göttingen: Hogrefe.
  • Frey, D. & Irle, M. (Eds.) (2002a). Theories of Social Psychology. Volume I: Cognitive Theories (2nd ed.). Bern: Huber.
  • Frey, D. & Irle, M. (Eds.) (2002b). Theories of Social Psychology. Volume II: Group, interaction and learning theories, (2nd ed.). Bern: Huber.
  • Frey, D. & Irle, M. (Eds.) (2002c). Theories of Social Psychology. Volume III: Theories of motivation, self and information processing, (2nd ed.). Bern: Huber.
  • Frey, D. & Schmalzried, L. (2013). Philosophy in leadership - learn good leadership from Kant, Aristotle, Popper & Co. Berlin: Springer.
  • Frey, D. (Ed.) (2017c). Fairy tale psychology. 41 fairy tales scientifically analyzed - and what we can learn from them today.
  • Frey, D. (Ed.) (2018). Psychology of rituals and customs. Berlin: Springer.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Prof. Dr. Dieter Frey - Social Psychology - LMU Munich. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on July 28, 2017 ; Retrieved July 26, 2017 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.psy.lmu.de
  2. ↑ D. Frey, L. Schmalzried: The model of ethically-oriented leadership . In: F. Zschaler, S. Meck, J. Kleine (Hrsg.): Finethikon year book for financial and organizational ethics . tape 2 . Steinbeis Edition, Stuttgart 2012, p. 61-92 .
  3. ↑ D. Frey, L. Schmalzried: Philosophy in Leadership - Learning Good Leadership from Kant, Aristoteles, Popper & Co. Springer, Berlin 2013.
  4. ↑ Dieter Frey: Ethical principles of good leadership. Why good leadership is easy and difficult at the same time. Roman Herzog Institute, Munich 2015.
  5. ↑ Dieter Frey: Ethical principles of good leadership. Why good leadership is easy and difficult at the same time . Roman Herzog Institute, Munich 2015.
  6. ↑ D. Frey, R. Neumann, M. Schäfer: Determinants of civil courage and help behavior. In: HW Bierhoff, D. Fetchenhauer (Ed.): Solidarity, Conflict, Environment and the Third World . Leske + Budrich, Opladen 2001, p. 93-122 .
  7. ↑ D. Frey, M. Winkler, P. Fischer, N. Bruckmeier, P. Glöckner, W. König, D. Mutz, R. Spiess: "zammgrauft" - a training from anti-violence to moral courage for children and young people . In: KJ Jonas, M. Boos, V. Brandstätter (eds.): Train civil courage! Theory and practice . Hogrefe, Göttingen 2007, p. 139-203 .
  8. ↑ D. Frey, M. Gerkhardt, P. Fischer, C. Peus, E. Traut-Mattausch: Change Management in Organizations - Resistance and Success Factors in Implementation . In: L. v. Rosenstiel, E. Regnet, M. Domsch (Hrsg.): Leadership of employees - manual for successful personnel management . Schaeffer-Poeschel, Stuttgart, p. 561-572 .
  9. ^ S. Schulz-Hardt, D. Frey, C. Lüthgens, S. Moscovici: Biased Information Search in Group Decision Making . In: Journal of Personality and Social Psychology . No. 78 , 2000, pp. 655-699 .
  10. ↑ D. Frey, O. Rogner, D. Havemann: Psychological Factors Influencing the Recuperation Process of Accident Patients . In: PF Lovibond & PH Wilson (Eds.): Clinical and Abnormal Psychology . Elsevier., The Netherlands 1989, pp. 481-485 .
  11. ↑ L. v. Rosenstiel, D. Frey: What promotes innovation in the company? In: R. Oerter, D. Frey, H. Mandl, L. v. Rosenstiel, K. Schneewind (Hrsg.): Dare new ways: Innovation in education, economy and society . Lucius & Lucius, Stuttgart 2010, p. 107-137 .
  12. ↑ D. Frey, GW Maier, E. Traut-Mattausch, P. Fischer, C. Peus: How does the new come into the world? Psychological aspects of innovation and creativity in commercial and social organizations . In: Bielefeld University, Survey GmbH + Co.KG, Bertelsmann Foundation & Initiative for Employment OWL eV (Ed.): Edition Netzwerkwelten, Volume 4: Networks: Business innovations and a culture of cooperation in the tension between research and practice . Kleine Verlag, Bielefeld 2008, p. 46-56 .
  13. ↑ D. Frey, H. Rez: Population and Predators: Preconditions for the Holocaust from a Control-Theoretical Perspective . In: LS Newman & R. Erber (Eds.): Understanding Genocide: The Social Psychology of the Holocaust . Oxford University Press, New York 2002, pp. 188-221 .
  14. ↑ D. Frey, L. Schmalzried: Philosophy in Leadership - Learning Good Leadership from Kant, Aristoteles, Popper & Co. Springer, Berlin 2013.
personal data
SURNAME Frey, Dieter
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German psychologist, university professor
DATE OF BIRTH June 27, 1946
PLACE OF BIRTH Red