Markus Helfen is a Senior Research Fellow in the Hertie School, Berlin, Department of Public Policy. In this capacity he works in a leading research role in the project “Humans in digital logistics – HuLog” which focuses on the humanization of logistics work in an accelerating digital transformation. HuLog is supported by Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) Germany, FWO Belgium, NSO Poland, and the UKRI United Kingdom under CHANSE ERA-NET Co-fund programme, which has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme. Before joining Hertie School, Markus taught as a Professor in the Department of Organisation and Learning in the Faculty of Business & Management, University of Innsbruck, Austria, as well as a Visiting Professor in the Management Department at Freie Universität, Berlin, where he continues to be involved as a Private Lecturer. He is an associate editor of the journal “Research in the Sociology of Work” as well as a member of the advisory boards of the “German Journal of Human Resource Management” and the journal “Industrielle Beziehungen – The German Journal of Industrial Relations”. He is a regular co-convenor at the European Group of Organization Studies (EGOS) annual colloquia with the international research group “Organization studies and Industrial Relations”. Markus publishes in leading management and industrial relations journals like Organization Studies, Human Relations, and the British Journal of Industrial Relations. He does research in the fields of organization theory, HRM, and employment relations with a focus on collective action, institutional work, and sustainability. Markus is an expert on global labour standards in supply chains, multi-employer work arrangements in interorganizational settings as well as meta-organizating.
Research/Policy Publications
Helfen, M. (2022). Globale Arbeitsstandards und Arbeitswissenschaft: Wie weiter auf dem Weg zu nachhaltiger Arbeit in globalen Lieferketten? Zeitschrift für Arbeitswissenschaft, DOI 10.1007/s41449-022-00322-w.
Bourguignon, R. & Helfen, M. (2022). Le dialogue social transnational et la dialectique du partenariat conflictuel. In Rémi Bourguignon & Arnaud Stimec (eds) L'analyse organisationnelle du dialogue social. Pratiques et perspectives théoriques. Editions EMS, 51-74.
Helfen, M. (2022). Meta-organizing Employers: From Beneficial Constraints to Collective Self-discipline? In Gooberman, L. & Hauptmeier, M. (eds.) Contemporary employers’ organizations. Adaptation and resilience. Routledge: New York. DOI: 10.4324/9781003104575-4.
Sydow, J., Schüßler, E. & Helfen, M. (2022). Managing global production networks: Towards social responsibility via inter-organizational reliability? In Biggiero, L., De Jongh, D., Priddat, B., Wieland, J., Zicari, Fischer, D. (eds). The relational view of economics. A new research agenda for the study of relational transactions, Springer: Cham, 133-158.
Helfen, M., Ruiner, C. & Wirth, C. (2022). Digitalisierung und Arbeitsorganisation – Von der digitalen Organisation der Arbeit zur Organisation digitaler Arbeit? In Roth, S. & Corsten, H. (Hrsg.) Handbuch Digitalisierung. Vahlen: München, 291-312.
Berthod, O., Helfen, M. & Wirth, C. (2021). Organizational expulsion: How boundary work produces inequality in German airports. Scandinavian Journal of Management, 37, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scaman.2021.101169.
Sydow, J., Helfen, M. & Auschra, C. (2021). Rethinking Global Production Networks in the Face of Crises: A comment from Germany in Light of Covid-19. Management and Organization Review. doi: 10.1017/mor.2021.13.
Ziehe, D. & Helfen, M. (2021). “You are not my boss!”: Managing inter-organizational collaboration in German ground handling operations. German Journal of Human Resource Management, 35(3): 356-382.
Sydow, J. & Helfen, M. (2020). Work and employment in fluid organizational forms. In Hoffman, B.J., Shoss M., & Wegman, L. (eds) The Cambridge handbook of the changing nature of work. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 214-236.
Sydow, J., Wirth, C. & Helfen, M. (2020). Strategy emergence in service delivery networks: Network-oriented human resource management practices at German airports. Human Resource Management Journal, 30(4): 566-585.
Helfen, M. & Wirth, C. (2020). Management von Arbeit in pluralen Netzwerkorganisationen. Trends, Deutungen und Handlungsoptionen. Working Paper Forschungsförderung Nr. 185. Hans-Böckler-Stiftung: Düsseldorf, https://www.boeckler.de/de/faust-detail.htm?sync_id=8922.
Helfen, M., Sydow, J. & Wirth, C. (2020). Service delivery networks and employment relations at German airports: Jeopardizing industrial peace on the ground? British Journal of Industrial Relations, 58(1): 168-198.
