Profile

Professor

Short CV

Verner C. Petersen, M.Sc. and Dr. Phil., is Professor at the Department of Management at the Aarhus School of Business, University of Aarhus. He is founder and leader of the research group CREDO (Centre for Research in Ethics and Decision-making in Organisations). The main purpose of CREDO is to carry out and further cross-disciplinary research in three areas: Value-based leadership and selforganisation; Learning, problem-solving and decision-making in organisations; Public regulation vs. self-regulation. See CREDO homepage: credo.asb.dk/.

Since 1989 Verner C. Petersen and other researchers from the CREDO group have been pioneers in connection with researching and developing the theories of valuebased leadership and self-organisation, and the practical application of these theories. Thus the Aarhus School of Business possesses a unique competence in this area. The theories were met with scepticism in the beginning, but are now becoming more and more accepted, in step with the recognition, that more traditional approaches to management and organisation perhaps to a larger degree have contributed to new problems more than they have constituted solutions.

Today it must be recognised that research in this area is of decisive importance for the renewal of traditional approaches to regulation and management of societies, as well as public organisations and private companies.

Verner C. Petersen has been a visiting fellow at The Colgate-Darden Graduate School of Business at the University of Virginia and at Harvard Business School. Working with a number of companies and institutions he has attempted to implement CREDO’s ideas about self-organisation and value-based leadership in practice. Foremost amongst these is Jyske Bank A/S.

Verner C. Petersen has been a member of the Ministry of Business Affairs’ “Vision group on the social responsibility of Business” and a member of the committee carrying out the evaluation of “The Faculty of The Faculty of Engineering, Science and Medicine” at Aalborg University for The Danish Evaluation Institute (EVA). He has participated in evaluations of The National Audit Office of Denmark’s (Rigsrevisionen) assessments and methodologies. For the Danish Consumer Ombudsman he has recently finished an article on “Self-regulating responsibility instead of public intervention”.

Current research interests

Currently Verner C. Petersen is occupied with critical studies of social science theories and problematic tendencies in developed societies. For instance the way in which economic theory and economic assumptions shape our views and practices in other areas, so that a belief in economic theory and economic assumptions in fact make even unrealistic assumptions become true; the possible implications of tendencies towards individualisation and dissolution in society; management tendencies in the public sector; the widespread application of measurements of quality and their problematic effects on behaviour.

Teaching and communication

Verner C. Petersen is responsible for teaching “Corporate social responsibility and ethics – theory, application and effects”, “Value-based Leadership and Self-organisation”, “Inter-course – experimenting with the foundations of intelligent organisation” and is co-responsible for the leadership module at the Aarhus School of Business. He has also taught and lectured at the Local Government School (Den Kommunale Højskole), The Danish School of Public Administration (Danmarks Forvaltningshøjskole), The Leadership Academy, and the Confederation of Danish Industry. In addition to this, he is giving lectures to a broad selection of companies, institutions and professional associations.

Recent publications include:

Petersen, V.C. (2008). Vildveje i velfærdsstaten. København:Informations Forlag
Petersen, V. C. (2004 og 2005). Hinsides regler – selvorganisering og ledelse med
ansvar [Beyond rules – self-organisation and leadership with responsibility].
København: Børsens Forlag
Petersen, V. C. (2002 and 2003). Beyond Rules in Society and Business. Cheltenham,
UK • Northampton, MA, USA: Edward Elgar.