Felix Wittke

Title of Dissertation:
Reframe Team Reflexivity – Realize Do No Harm: Applied to the Cases of Burnout Prevention and Speak up Freely in Teams

Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Andreas Suchanek
University: HHL Leipzig Graduate School of Management
Scholarship: KSG Scholarship
Cohort: 6th Cohort, 2019-2022

• Short Abstract

  Team reflexivity has gained increasing research attention as an effective response to the core challenge of constant learning, innovation, and adaptation in teams due to changing circumstances. Under the right conditions, empirical studies have found that team reflexivity can improve team performance, team learning, team innovation, team creativity, and team member well-being. Thus, research shows that team reflexivity is an effective means to improve teamwork and team outcomes.

  This thesis addresses the problem that team reflexivity research is focused too narrowly on improving these empirical team outcomes while neglecting the importance of normative principles and values in good teamwork, such as the do no harm principle. Therefore, this thesis proposes that the team reflexivity concept needs broader reframing and deeper reflection to realize normative principles and values in teams as a precondition for good teamwork, e.g., do no harm. It further presents two team reflexivity tools and applies them in the cases of burnout prevention and speaking up freely in teams to illustrate the point of this thesis: Do no harm in teams requires team reflexivity, and vice versa, team reflexivity requires do no harm.

• PhD related Publications

  • Felix Wittke. Reframe Team Reflexivity — Realize Do No Harm. Springer: Schriftenreihe der HHL Leipzig Graduate School of Management, 2023. https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-658-40433-8