Ulf Schaefer

Ulf joined SDA Bocconi in April 2019 as an Associate Professor of Practice in the knowledge group "Leadership, Organization & Human Resources". His teaching portfolio spans and connects themes of leadership, change/transformation, group dynamics, decision-making, and organizational ethics. Ulf is the program director of the Emerging Leaders Program that SDA Bocconi offers in collaboration with ESMT Berlin.

Ulf’s research interest focuses on understanding (un)ethical behavior in organizations via the lens offered by moral psychology. Specifically, he studies how people and groups normalize unethical behavior via moral disengagement, that is, via a cognitive reconstrual of morality and agency. Ulf authored “Moral Disengagement as a social process” and “The seven styles of influencing”, published articles in academic and managerial journals, and wrote numerous (some best-selling and award winning) case studies.

Before joining SDA Bocconi, Ulf was a strategy consultant at A.T. Kearney, a co-founder and consultant of The Launch Group, a manager at DaimlerChrysler, and director and head of strategy consulting Germany for Sapient Corp. Between 2005 and 2019, Ulf was a program director at ESMT where he designed and implemented more than 100 executive education leadership development interventions, working across Europe, and in Turkey, Russia, Nigeria, Argentina, Brazil, UAE, Qatar, Israel, Lebanon, Singapore, and China.

Ulf remains co-affiliated with ESMT as visiting lecturer and is the program director of its Leading Change Initiative program. Additionally, Ulf regularly teaches for HEC Paris, IAE Buenos Aires, HPI Potsdam, and serves as a tutor for case writing and case teaching with The Case Centre.

Ulf earned an M.A. in Philosophy, Mathematics, Logic and Theory of Science from the University of Bonn (Germany) after studying in Bonn and at UC Berkeley and UT Knoxville (USA). He earned an MBA from Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus Universiteit (The Netherlands) after studying in Rotterdam and at Richard Ivey School of Business, Western University (Canada). Ulf completed his PhD at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (The Netherlands) investigating moral thought and behavior in social contexts.

Teaching domains

• Change Management
• Managerial Ethics and Responsible Leadership
• Team Management
• Conflict Management

Education

• Doctor of Philosophy - PhD Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (VU Amsterdam) (Mar 2016 - Mar 2021)
• MBA, Business Administration and Management, General Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University (1995 - 1997)
• Magister Artium, Philosophy, Mathematics, Logic and Theory of Science The University of Bonn (1988 - 1994)
• The Art and Practice of Leadership Development Harvard Kennedy School (2009 - 2009)
• Ivey Business School at Western University (1996 — 1996)
• University of Tennessee, Knoxville (1992 — 1993)
• University of California, Berkeley (1992 — 1992)

Companies

• Lecturer Hasso Plattner Institute (2019)
• Associate Professor of Practice (Leadership, Organization and Human Resources) SDA Bocconi (2019)
• Visiting Lecturer / Affiliate ESMT Berlin (2019)
• Visiting Faculty HEC Paris (2015)
• Visiting Faculty IAE Business School (2014)
• Tutor The Case Centre (2014)
• Program Director | ESMT Executive Education ESMT Berlin (2005 — 2019)
• Visiting Professor Saint Paul Escola de Negócios (2017 — 2018)
• Manager | Head of IT-Strategy, Architecture, and Communications Daimler Financial Services (2003 — 2005)

Latest publications

SCHAEFER U., BOUWMEESTER O. Reconceptualizing moral disengagement as a process: transcending overly liberal and overly conservative practice in the field Journal of Business Ethics, April, 2020

MUELLER U. P., SCHAEFER U. The Dirty Dozen: how unethical behaviour creeps into your organisation The European Business Review, July, 2016, pp.37-41

SCHAEFER U., RATHJE S. The seven styles of influencing: A workbook for managers Wissenschaftlicher Verlag Berlin, Germany, 2013

SCHAEFER U., KOROTOV K. Discussing values in executive education: From "non-discussable" to learning management of meaning Training & Management Development Methods, 2010, vol.24, no. 4, pp.15-21

SCHAEFER U. Moral disengagement as a process: Effects of moral disengagement on moral judgments of others and shared cognition in groups 2021, Amsterdam Business Research Institute, Netherlands (The)

SCHAEFER U., MUELLER U. P. How Unethical Behavior Creeps into an Organization: Fake Accounts at Wells Fargo 2021, The Case Centre, Great Britain