Abstract

In this article, we explore the question of how membership, hierarchy, rules, monitoring, and sanctions are used at German professorships to organize research. Using these five criteria of an organization from Ahrne and Brunsson (Organization, 18(1):83–104, 2011) as a theoretical pattern, we shed light on the meso-level of universities in the German higher education system—the professorship. It is at this level that the collaborative production of research is organized. We show which organizational mechanisms are necessary for this joint production process, how the practical implementation and interpretation of rules as an organizational process take place at the professorships, as well as various negotiations and sanctions. In the German higher education system, professors are the superiors of their academic staff. The professor decides on the hiring and renewal of employees and is the supervisor of doctoral candidates, who in the German higher education system are mostly employed as research assistants. To illustrate the characteristics of the criteria, we draw on empirical material from mixed-methods research, which made it possible to contrast and substantiate the special features of professorships in Germany from different perspectives and data.

中文翻译：

---

关于德国高等教育体系中教授职位的组织方式以及组织过程如何运作的理论和实证方法

摘要

在本文中，我们探讨了德国教授如何利用成员资格、等级制度、规则、监控和制裁来组织研究的问题。以 Ahrne 和 Brunsson 的组织的这五个标准（Organization, 18(1):83–104, 2011）作为理论模式，我们揭示了德国高等教育体系中大学的中观层面——教授职位。正是在这个层面上组织了研究的协作生产。我们展示了哪些组织机制对于这种联合生产过程是必要的，规则作为组织过程的实际实施和解释如何在教授职位上进行，以及各种谈判和制裁。在德国高等教育体系中，教授是学术人员的上级。教授决定员工的聘用和续聘，是博士生的导师，在德国高等教育系统中，博士生大多担任研究助理。为了说明该标准的特点，我们借鉴了混合方法研究的经验材料，这使得从不同角度和数据对比和证实德国教授职位的特殊性成为可能。