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Institute for New Work and Coaching (INWOC)

Empowered by Research

The Institute for New Work and Coaching (INWOC) is a research institute specialising in business psychology that considers knowledge transfer to be an essential part of research. We conduct applied research in the areas of New Work and Coaching and report on it - in a compact and understandable way.

The digitalization and globalization of the world of work, a dramatic increase in knowledge, demographic change and the use of artificial intelligence are increasingly challenging organizations. Many organizations are responding to these trends by introducing new work structures and work cultures or relying on support measures such as coaching - often with far-reaching consequences. Our aim is to provide researchers and practitioners with new findings in these areas of research so that the potential of new work and coaching can be exploited as positively as possible. After all, New Work and coaching are also associated with risks and can have undesirable side effects.
Our aim is to conduct excellent research and at the same time build bridges between science and practice, thus contributing to the professionalization of New Work and coaching.

Institute projects

New Work Barometer

The aim of the New Work Barometer is to achieve a data-based categorisation of the New Work concept and to inform business, politics and science. In each barometer, organisational representatives are surveyed on key topics in addition to a stable section with questions on associations, practices and developments in relation to New Work. Following the renaming of XING as New Work SE (2020), the coronavirus crisis (2021), agility (2022), future skills for New Work (2023) and attitudes in organisational development and home office trends (2024), the focus in 2025 was on the distribution of power in change and AI as a New Work player.

BAMFE (BMBF-project)

The aim of the BAMFE project is to psychologically empower employees in the public sector, i.e. to increase their experience of meaning, self-determination, influence and competence. Funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research and in collaboration with appose GmbH in Heidelberg, Prof. Dr Carsten Schermuly, Lisa-Maria Marquardt and Stefanie Prediger are working on the creation of a virtual toolkit for measuring, interpreting and implementing measures to promote empowerment.

Here you can find the BAMFE project

Press

All contributions are in German.

Your contact persons

Prof. Carsten C. Schermuly is the program director of the MBA in Business Coaching and New Work Organizational Development.
Prof. Dr. Carsten Schermuly

Managing Director

Fried Wilsker

Research assistant

Carla Rinne

Research assistant

Persons involved

Professors

Research assistants

  • Lisa-Maria Marquardt
  • Carla Rinne
  • Joschka Rust
  • Stefanie Prediger
  • Fried Wilsker

Student employees

  • Ron Rüdiger

Associated scientists

  • Tabea Augner
  • Dr. Laura Creon
  • Dr. Ivana Drazic
  • Prof Dr Carolin Graßmann
  • Dr. Jan Koch
  • Natalie Michalik

Current research topics

In its research focus on agility , INWOC deals with agility at various levels: the agile
mindset, agile project work in teams and the organisational culture for agility.
Selected publications on the topic of agility:

  • Augner, T. & Schermuly, C. C. (in press). Beyond a Buzzword - The agile mindset as a new research construct
    in organisational psychology? Journal of Managerial Psychology.
  • Prediger, S., & Schermuly, C. C. (2025). How Agile Working Increases Innovative Work Behaviour: The Role of
    Psychological Empowerment and Communication Media. Project Management Journal, 0(0). https://doi.org/10.1177/87569728251314457
  • Koch, J., Drazic, I. & Schermuly, C. C. (2023). The affective, behavioural, and cognitive outcomes of
    agile project management: A preliminary meta-analysis. Journal of Occupational and Organisational Psychology, 96(3), 678-706. https://doi.org/10.1111/joop.12429

In its research focus on coaching , INWOC looks at various influencing factors in coaching, such as the influence of digital formats or relationship quality on coaching success. We also look at the development and prevention of negative side effects in coaching.
Selected publications on the topic of coaching:

  • Michalik, N. M., & Schermuly, C. C. (2024). online, offline, or both? The importance of coaching format for side effects in business coaching. Advanced online. Journal of Managerial Psychology, 39 (6), 775-794. doi. org/10.1108/JMP-01-2023-0068
  • Graßmann, C. & Schermuly, C. C. (2020). Understanding what drives the coaching working alliance: A systematic literature review and meta-analytic examination. International Coaching Psychology Review, 15(2), 99-118. doi. org/10.53841/bpsicpr.2020.15.2.9
  • Graßmann, C., Schermuly, C. C., & Wach, D. (2019). Potential antecedents and consequences of negative effects for coaches. Coaching: An International Journal of Theory, Research & Practice. 12(1), 67-88. doi. org/10.1080/17521882.2018.1489870

In its research focus on empowerment , INWOC deals with psychological empowerment according to Spreitzer (1995). Our research includes influencing factors (e.g. leadership styles and psychological safety) and the effects of psychological empowerment (e.g. on retirement or work performance). We also develop and standardise instruments (e.g. to measure the culture of empowerment and empowerment-oriented leadership).
Selected publications on the topic of empowerment:

  • Creon, L. E. & Schermuly, C. C. (2024). Feeling safe to be empowered: Psychological safety and
    psychological empowerment in threatening work environments. German Journal of Human Resource Management.
  • Drazic, I., Schermuly, C. C., & Büsch, V. (2023). Empowered to stay active: Psychological empowerment, retirement timing, and later life work. Journal of Adult Development. doi. org/10.1007/s10804-023-09453-8
  • Schermuly, C. C., Koch, J., Creon, L. E. & Drazic, I. (2023). Developing and testing an Instrument to Measure the Culture for Psychological Empowerment in Organisations (IMPEC). European Journal of Psychological Assessment, 39(5), 354-370. doi. org/10.1027/1015-5759/a000708
  • Schermuly, C. C., Creon, L. E., Gerlach, P., Graßmann, C., & Koch, J. (2022). Leadership Styles and Psychological Empowerment: A Meta-Analysis. Journal of Leadership & Organisational Studies, 29(1), 73-95.

In its research focus on hybrid work , INWOC is looking at hybrid forms of work and, in particular, the effects at team level. We are researching the conditions under which hybrid collaboration can be successful.
Selected publications on the topic of hybrid work:

  • Marquardt, L.-M., Schermuly, C. C., & Lorenz, T. (2024). coordination of collaboration in hybrid teams (CoCoh): Development and validation of the construct [Manuscript submitted for publication].
  • Schermuly, C. C., Rinne, C., & Meifert, M. (2024). How working from home became home office. Personalmagazin, 10/24, 42-48.
  • Schermuly, C. C. (2023). Let the teams decide! Harvard Business Manager, 01/23, 62-65.