Emil Inauen

• University of Zurich

This paper considers multiple control systems at the organizational level and argues for a nuanced and multifaceted approach for internal governance. For this undertaking, we look at a little-examined control and auditing instrument, the formalized audit procedures of Roman Catholic orders. These so-called visitations are one important pillar in th...

Purpose – With their specific characteristics, religious orders provide an interesting environment that can be used to deepen the understanding and dynamics of work motivation in the public sector. The paper aims to discuss this issue. Design/methodology/approach – The paper empirically investigates the levels and kinds of motivation (from extrins...

Organizational incentives are an important part of applied economics. Do even organizations like religious orders make the same trade-offs and substitutions as predicted by economics for firms? It is argued here that religious orders face the problem of controlling the actions of their branch offices to assure the continued value and uniqueness of...

To overcome agency problems, public sector reforms started to introduce businesslike incentive structures to motivate public officials. By neglecting internal behavioral incentives, however, these reforms often do not reach their stated goals. Our research analyzes the governance structure of Benedictine monasteries in order to gain new insights in...

Purpose – The governance structure of monasteries is analyzed to gain new insights and apply them to solve agency problems of modern corporations. In a historic analysis of crises and closures we ask, if Benedictine monasteries were and are capable of solving agency problems. The analysis shows that monasteries established basic governance instrume...

The financial crisis is a crisis of governance as well. In search of answers and solutions many scholars and practitioners recommend improved output control, i.e. better external incentives or even stricter regulations. Monasteries demonstrate that alternative models may be more suitable to enhance sustainable governance quality and to reduce agenc...

Der Benediktinerorden hat schon früh erstaunlich ausgefeilte Führungs- und Kontrollstrukturen entwickelt und etabliet. Wie sich Unternehmen davon inspirieren lassen können, zeigen die Autoren des folgenden Beitrages.

Compared to other institutions, Benedictine monasteries show an extraordinary stability. We use a dataset of all Benedictine abbeys that ever existed in Bavaria, Baden-W¿rttemberg and German-speaking Switzerland to determine their lifespan and the reasons that led to their closures. The studied monasteries show an average lifetime of almost 500 yea...

Die Benediktinerkl�ster weisen im Vergleich zu anderen Institutionen eine ungew�hnlich lange Lebensdauer auf. Unsere empirische Untersuchung aller je existierenden Benediktinerabteien in Bayern, Baden-W�rttemberg und der Deutschschweiz zeigt, dass ein durchschnittliches Kloster fast 500 Jahren alt wird. Kombiniert mit dem Befund, dass nur rund ein...

Purpose – The governance structure of monasteries is analyzed to gain new insights and apply them to solve agency problems of modern corporations. In a historic analysis of crises and closures we ask, if Benedictine monasteries were and are capable of solving agency problems. The analysis shows that monasteries established basic governance instrume...

The corporate governance structure of monasteries is analyzed to derive new insights into solving agency problems of modern corporations. In the long history of monasteries, some abbots and monks lined their own pockets and monasteries were undisciplined. Monasteries developed special systems to check these excesses and therefore were able to survi...

Die Benediktinerklöster weisen im Vergleich zu anderen Institutionen eine ungewöhnlich lange Lebensdauer auf. Unsere empirische Untersuchung aller je existierenden Benediktinerabteien in Bayern, Baden-Württemberg und der Deutschschweiz zeigt, dass ein durchschnittliches Kloster fast 500 Jahren alt wird. Kombiniert mit dem Befund, dass nur rund ein...