Prof. Dr. Wendelin Küpers
Visiting Professor of Leadership & Organization
Wendelin studies what management theory tends to forget: that organisations are made of bodies. People who get tired, who sense the mood in a room before anyone speaks, who know how to do things they cannot put into words. Trained in philosophy and economics, he brings phenomenology — above all Merleau-Ponty — into the study of leadership, and asks what changes when we stop treating knowledge as something stored in heads and start treating it as something enacted, felt and shared.
Practical wisdom is not a soft skill
For over a decade Wendelin has edited the Practical Wisdom in Leadership and Organization series at Routledge, and his own books make a serious case that wisdom — phronesis, the capacity to judge well in situations rules cannot settle — belongs at the centre of management education rather than at its edges. This is not motivational writing. It draws on Aristotle, phenomenology and empirical organisational research, and it asks uncomfortable questions about what business schools actually train people to do. Students in his master’s modules on ethics, aesthetics and leadership are asked to take those questions seriously.
Emotion, aesthetics and the knowledge that resists words
Much of Wendelin’s research concerns the dimensions of organisational life that quantitative methods handle badly: implicit knowing, embodied learning, the aesthetics of work, the affective texture of a workplace. His 2005 article on embodied and narrative knowing was selected as a Key Reading by Emerald Management Reviews, and his 2015 monograph developed a full phenomenology of the embodied organisation. His current projects extend this into mindfulness in organisational life-worlds, artful design practice, and what he terms aesth-ethics — the point at which questions of form and questions of responsibility stop being separable.
Sustainability as a change in practice, not a policy
His recent work turns to sustainability and the Anthropocene, arguing that transformation fails when it is treated as a matter of targets and reporting rather than of how people actually work and live together. The through-line is his concept of inter-praxis: the attempt to integrate praxis, practice and practical wisdom into transformative action. It is demanding vocabulary for a straightforward conviction — that sustainable organisations require different habits, not just different metrics.
An international academic life
Wendelin studied philosophy at Bochum and economics at Witten/Herdecke, where he completed his doctorate, and took part in the postgraduate college Phenomenology and Hermeneutics. He has held positions at the University of St. Gallen, the FernUniversität Hagen, Massey University in Auckland — where he was nominated Lecturer of the Year in 2013 — and ICN-ARTEM in Nancy. He has convened conferences for EURAM, EGOS, CMS and Rethinking Management, reviews for some two dozen journals, and serves as associate editor of Business Ethics, the Environment and Responsibility.
At Karls since 2013
Wendelin has taught at Karlshochschule as a visiting professor since September 2013, primarily in the Management and Social TransFormation master’s programmes and in Politics, Philosophy and Economics. He teaches general management and leadership, power and negotiation, practical philosophy, sustainability and research methods, and leads the master’s research colloquium. His seminars ask students to notice what they already know with their bodies before they theorise it.
Organisations are not run by minds. They are run by people who have bodies, moods and habits.
Facts, figures and the full CV
Role
- Visiting Professor
- At the university since 1 September 2013
Focus on teaching
- Leadership and organization: studies and practice
- General management and leadership
- Leading Others: Power, Conflict and Negotiation (M.A. Social TransFormation)
- Research colloquium, master’s programme
- Transformative research projects
- Introduction to political philosophy
- Ethics in practice and sustainability development
Modules
- General Management / Leadership (M.A. Management, M.A. Social TransFormation) — including business analysis, business transformation, strategy as practice, aesthetics and ethics in leadership, and Leading Others: Power, Conflict and Negotiation
- Introduction to Scientific Work and Empirical Social and Business Research (research colloquium)
- Practical Philosophy & Strategic Practice (B.A. Politics, Philosophy and Economics)
- Special Issue: Transformative Research Project
- Sustainability Development
Research interests and fields
- Phenomenology and cross-disciplinary qualitative research on organization, management and leadership
- Embodied, emotional and aesthetic dimensions of organisational life-worlds and leadership practice
- Implicit knowing, learning and creative practices in organisations
- Theory and practice of integral and responsible forms of organising and leading
- Practical wisdom in organisations, leadership, economy and society
Current research projects
- Phenomenology and praxis of embodied, aesthetic and sustainable organisation and leadership
- Em-Bodied-MIND-full: processes and effects of mindfulness in organisational life-worlds and leadership practice
- De-Sign-Doing: embodied and artful design and materio-socio-cultural inter-practices in sustainable organisations
- AestEthics: integral, ethical and aesthetic processes and forms of practical wisdom in responsive and responsible organisation and leadership
Academic background and positions
- Associate Professor, ICN-ARTEM, Nancy, France
- Associate Professor, School of Management, Massey University, Auckland, New Zealand
- Senior Lecturer, FernUniversität Hagen, Germany
- Postdoctoral Research Associate, University of St. Gallen, Switzerland
- Doctorate (Dr. rer. pol.), University of Witten/Herdecke
- Diplom rer. pol. in Economics, University of Witten/Herdecke
- Studies in philosophy, University of Bochum; postgraduate college Phenomenology and Hermeneutics
Practical experience
- Long-standing collaboration with companies on empirical research projects, including FUTOUR GmbH & Co. KG (Munich), Wikinger-Reisen GmbH (Hagen and Reykjavik) and INDOCULTURES GmbH (Stuttgart and New Delhi)
- Commercial training and several years’ work at Hüls (VEBA), Marl
Editorial and professional roles
- Conference convenor: EURAM, EGOS, CMS, Rethinking Management
- Series editor, The Practical Wisdom in Leadership and Organization Series, Gower Ashgate / Routledge
- Section editor, Handbook of Practical Wisdom in Business and Management, Springer
- Associate editor, Business Ethics, the Environment and Responsibility
- Co-editor, Integral Review; co-editor and head of the German office, Integral Leadership; co-editor and editorial board, Organizational Aesthetics
- Scientific advisory board, Institut für Integrale Studien (IFIS); advisory board, Social Responsibility Council, New Delhi
- Founding member, Ethik und Verantwortung in der Arbeitswelt e.V.
- Reviewer for the European Science Foundation, and for journals including Organization Studies, Human Relations, Journal of Business Ethics, Management Learning, Leadership, Academy of Management Learning & Education and Journal of Cleaner Production
- Book reviewer for Routledge and Emerald
- Member, CEREFIGE (Université de Lorraine) and IRCASE (ICN-ARTEM), Nancy
Memberships
ACORN · Academy of Management · Critical Management Studies · EGOS · European Business Ethics Network · European SPES Institute · EMONET · EURAM · IFIS · Integral Leadership Council · ILA Followership Research Community · SCOS · Strategy as Practice Network · Visiting Research Fellow, Imagination Laboratory
Awards and scholarships
- Diploma with distinction in Economics and Business Administration, University of Witten/Herdecke
- Doctoral scholarship, Dörken Foundation, Herdecke
- Postdoctoral scholarship, Thyssen Foundation, Cologne
- Research funding, Grundlagenfonds, University of St. Gallen
- Marie Curie Fellowship, European Commission
- Emerald Management Reviews “Key Reading” for Embodied Implicit and Narrative Knowing in Organisations (2005)
- Nominated for the Johnson Award for Best Papers in Ethics and Accountability in Public Service, University of Pittsburgh, for Inter-Leadership (with J. Weibler, 2008)
- Nominated, Lecturer of the Year, Massey University, Auckland (2013)
- Erasmus+ STA mobility grant (2014/2015)
Publications (selection)
-
Monographs
- Küpers, W. (2015). Phenomenology of the Embodied Organization: The Contribution of Merleau-Ponty for Carnal Organisation Studies and Practice. Palgrave Macmillan.
- Küpers, W. & Pauleen, D. (2013). A Handbook of Practical Wisdom: Leadership, Organization and Integral Business Practice. Gower.
- Küpers, W., Deeg, J. & Weibler, J. (2010). Integrale Steuerung von Organisationen. Oldenbourg.
- Küpers, W. & Weibler, J. (2005). Emotionen in Organisationen. Kohlhammer.
- Küpers, W. & Wunderer, R. (2003). Demotivation – Remotivation: Wie Leistungspotenziale blockiert und reaktiviert werden. Luchterhand.
- Küpers, W. (1999). Phänomenologie der Dienstleistungsqualität. Gabler.
Edited volumes
- Küpers, W. & Statler, M. (2019). Leadership and Wisdom: Narrating the Future Responsibly. Routledge.
- Küpers, W., Sonnenburg, S. & Zierold, M. (2017). Re-Thinking Management. Springer.
- Küpers, W. & Gunnlaugson, O. (2016). Wisdom Learning: Perspectives on Wising-Up Management Education. Ashgate Gower.
- Küpers, W. (ed.) (2013–2016). The Practical Wisdom in Leadership and Organization Series. Gower Ashgate / Routledge.
- Laske, S., Küpers, W. & Meister-Scheytt, C. (2006). Integrales Management und Organisation von Bildungseinrichtungen. Waxmann.
Selected book chapters
- Küpers, W. (2022). Post-phenomenology: Integrating enfleshed praxis, practices, phronesis and sustainable action. In de Vaujany, Aroles & Pérezts (eds.), Phenomenologies and Organisation Studies, 577–603. Cambridge University Press.
- Küpers, W. & Howard, C. (2022). Steps towards a critical posthuman anthropology. In Herbrechter et al. (eds.), Handbook of Critical Posthumanism. Palgrave/Springer.
- Küpers, W. & Sonnenburg, S. (2021). Being t/here — apart (but) together: Co-creative working in real-virtual inter-places. In De Molli & Vecco (eds.), The Metamorphosis of Organisational Space in Cultural and Creative Sectors, 53–66. Routledge.
- Küpers, W. (2021). (Re-)embodied digital education practices. In Loftus & Kinsella (eds.), Embodiment and Professional Education, 183–196. Springer.
- Küpers, W. (2020). Embodied inter-practices in resonance as new forms of working in organisations. In Aroles, Dale & de Vaujany (eds.), Experiencing the New World of Work, 13–38. Cambridge University Press.
- Küpers, W. (2020). From Anthropocene to Ecocene: Eco-phenomenological perspectives on embodied, anthro-decentric transformations. In Heikkurinen et al. (eds.), Time and Mobility after the Anthropocene. MDPI.
- Küpers, W. (2019). Post-Pandoran hope for moving wisely, beyond the neo-Promethean Anthropocene. In Kostera & Ericsson (eds.), Organizing Hope, ch. 7. Edward Elgar.
- Küpers, W. & Howard, C. (2019). Phenomenological anthropology of interactive travel. In Palmer & Andrews (eds.), Tourism and Embodiment, 203–218. Routledge.
- Küpers, W. (2017). Embodied aesth-ethics for developing practical wisdom in management education. In Küpers & Gunnlaugson (eds.), Wisdom Learning, 272–311. Routledge.
- Küpers, W. (2015). De-+-Touring through inter-place. In Sonnenburg & Wee (eds.), Touring Consumption. Springer.
Selected journal articles
- Küpers, W., Pauleen, D. & Intezari, A. (2022). Wise relational management: Tai Chi Chuan as an exemplar of embodied and balanced responsiveness. Scandinavian Journal of Management, 38(3).
- Küpers, W. & Aroles, J. (2022). Flânerie as a methodological practice for explorative re-search in digital worlds. Culture and Organization, 1–14.
- Küpers, W. (2021). Trans-formational qualities of the dys-&-functional. Revue Internationale de Psychosociologie et de Gestion des Comportements Organisationnels (RIPCO), XXVI(71), 13–36.
- Küpers, W. & Weibler, J. (2008). Inter-leadership: Why and how to think leader- and followership integrally. Leadership, 4(4), 443–475.
- Küpers, W. (2005). Embodied implicit and narrative knowing in organisations. Journal of Knowledge Management, 9(6), 113–133.
Selected talks and keynotes
- Phenomenology of embodied new work practices — keynote, 2nd International Workshop Phenomenology & New Work Practices, Université Paris-Dauphine (2018)
- Inter-praxis: Integrating praxis, practice and phronesis for transformative sustainable development — EURAM, Reykjavik (2018), Best Paper nominee
- From Anthropocene to Eco-cene? — EGOS, Edinburgh (2019)
- En-fleshed inter-practices for more sustainable organisational life-worlds — SCOS, Sapienza University of Rome (2017)
- The “Re-” of Re-Thinking Management — opening address, Rethinking Management conference, Karlshochschule (2014)
The full publication list, including working papers and conference presentations, is available at Academia.edu and ResearchGate.
Want to study with Wendelin?
His courses run in the Management and Social TransFormation master’s programmes and in Politics, Philosophy and Economics. Come to an info day, sit in on a session, or write to him directly.