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Abstract
Fundamental changes in the management of technological innovation took place over the course of the 40-year history of the German Democratic Republic. This article analyzes management culture in electronics and microelectronics R&D, as well as at Carl Zeiss Jena. R&D directors of the 1950s and 1960s, whose careers started in the Weimar or Nazi era, had a professional ethos and managerial style not rooted in state socialism. This article analyzes their approaches to management according to criteria such as reliance on authority and hierarchy, promotion of communication, and importance attached to political conformity. Developments in R&D management at Carl Zeiss are traced up into the 1980s. The role of the Stasi (secret police) in high tech R&D is discussed.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Notes
Notes
1 This question is asked in: Schulz and Welskopp (Citation2017).
2 Two of the most important scholars to have brought about a historicised understanding of the GDR economy are André Steiner and Raymond Stokes: Steiner (Citation2010) and Stokes (Citation2000).
3 This conception of management as anathema to socialism was part of official doctrine. See Jahn and Schulz (Citation1959). “Real socialism” was a term first used by Erich Honecker in 1973 to describe the system of the GDR.
4 Augustine (Citation2007).
5 Ahrens and Boldorf (Citation2012)
6 Ahrens (Citation2014). For further details, see Ahrens (Citation2016).
7 Schulz and Welskopp (Citation2017, Wieviel, esp. pp. 336–337). Simson motorcycles and mopeds enjoyed brand-name recognition in the GDR and in some foreign markets.
8 Fengler (Citation2013).
9 Macrakis (Citation2008).
10 Glitz and Meyersson (Citation2020).
11 Example in Carl Zeiss Archive (Jena), NG 148, letter from the general director of Zeiss, Schrade, to the general director of the socialist combine (VVB), dated September 30, 1965.
12 The New Economic System of 1963–67 loosened the planning system, allowing enterprises to orient their decision-making according to criteria that mimicked market mechanisms. The Economic System of Socialism brought about a concentration of investments in what were deemed key technologies. See Steiner (Citation2010, Chapter 4).
13 Schiefer (Citation2018, pp. 196–216, 220–230, 260–263, 277–287, 309–312, 324–332, 338–348 and 452–453). On the debates regarding the role of the Ministry for State Security, see pp. 333–347 and literature cited therein.
14 See Macrakis (Citation1999, p. 120).
15 Holt (Citation1970). He derived this conceptual framework from: Burns and Stalker (Citation1959).
16 See Brown and Eisenhardt (Citation1995, esp. pp. 356–358) and Meissner and Sprenger (Citation2011).
17 See Mick (Citation2000).
18 Connelly (Citation2000).
19 The CoCom (Coordinating Committee for Multilateral Export Controls) embargo applied to technologies with military applications. See Mastanduno (Citation1992, esp. p. 110).
20 Roesler (Citation1998).
21 The entire memoir is housed in the Technische Sammlungen Dresden (TSD). First publication on this memoir: Dörfel (Citation2003).
22 Originally under the Economic Council, it came under the authority of the Ministry for Electrical Engineering and Electronics in 1965.
23 See Ash (Citation2010) and Macrakis (Citation1993).
24 Maier (Citation2007, vol. 1, p. 150; also see p. 180).
25 TSD, Nachlaß Hartmann, vol. D, p. 1.
26 Wagner-Kyora (Citation2009).
27 TSD Dresden, Nachlaß Hartmann, vol. F, pp. 55–56; quotation on pp. 45–46. See also Mick (Citation2000).
28 Riordan and Hoddeson (Citation1997).
29 BArch (German Federal Archives, Lichterfelde) DF4 40751, State Planning Commission report of October 16, 1959; “Bemerkungen der sowjetischen Delegation,” dated December 22, 1959.
30 BArch DF4 40751, memorandum dated August 14, 1958. Also confirmed in SAPMO/BArch (Party Archives in the Federal German Archives) DY 30/IV 2/6.07, Nr. 71, pp. 88–90.
31 TSD, Nachlaß Hartmann, vol. G, p. 95.
32 TSD, Nachlaß Hartmann, vol. H, pp. 18–20; BstU (Ministry for State Security Archives) MfS Archive Number 1902/67, vol. 1 [part 1] (file Matthias Falter), pp. 26–27. (Abt. XVIII/1 der BV Dresden, report of September 14, 1964.)
33 TSD, Nachlaß Hartmann, vol. D (on his educational background), vol. F (on his years in the Soviet Union), vol. G (on his time as head of Vakutronik), and vol. H, pp. 6–18 (on the founding of AME).
34 Author’s interview with Hans Becker, July 2000.
35 TSD, Nachlaß Hartmann, vol. H, passim.
36 Author’s interviews with Hans Becker and Günter Dörfel, July 2000 and with Günter Dörfel (by telephone), June 2020.
37 TSD, Nachlaß Hartmann, vol. H, pp. 31, 40, 50, 54–56, 70, 90, 94, 126–129, 171–172. Interviews with Renée Gertrud Hartmann, Günter Dörfel and Hans Becker, July 2000. BStU Dresden AOP 2554/76, vol. 3, p. 150.
38 TSD, Nachlaß Hartmann, vol. G, pp. 36–37.
39 TSD, Nachlaß Hartmann, vol. G, p. 99.
40 TSD, Nachlaß Hartmann, vol. H, pp. 28–30, 54–56.
41 TSD, Nachlaß Hartmann, vol. H, pp. 52–54.
42 See Wenzel (Citation1989). SAPMO DY 30/IV A2/6.07 171, Protokoll der Beratung über Grundfragen der Mikroelektronik am 1.2.1965, p. 9. Landesarchiv Berlin [Provincial Archives of Berlin], Rep. 404, Nr. 525, Darlegung zur Perspektivplankonzeption der VVB RFT Bauelemente und Vakuumtechnik, dated April 4, 1966; Stellungnahme zur Darlegung, dated May 18, 1966, pp. 5–8. TSD, Nachlaß Hartmann, vol. H, pp. 251, 253.
43 TSD, Nachlaß Hartmann, vol. H, p. 40. Hartmann’s account confirmed in: SächsHStA (Saxon Main State Archive) Bestand Zentrum für Mikroelektronik, 1903/1, report dated September 23, 1964.
44 TSD, Nachlaß Hartmann, vol. H, p. 36. Also SächsHStA, collection Zentrum für Mikroelektronik 2158, memorandum L-Nr. 108/62, dated September 14, 1962. Example of Apel’s attempts to resolve problems faced by the semiconductor industry: SAPMO/BArch DY 30/IV 2/6.07/63. On Apel’s suicide, see Karlsch and Tandler (Citation2001).
45 SAPMO/Barch DY 30/IVA 2/6.07 171, “Konzeption,” dated December 28, 1963, sec. 3, p. 8.
46 Schiefer (Citation2018, p. 324).
47 TSD, Nachlaß Hartmann, vol. H, pp. 61–63.
48 SAPMO/Barch DY 30/IV A 2/607 171, Protokoll der Beratung über Grundfragen der Mikroelektronik am 1.2.1965 im Staatssekretariat für Forschung und Technik, p. 8.
49 TSD, Nachlaß Hartmann, vol. H, p. 136.
50 Macrakis (Citation2008, p. 118).
51 TSD, Nachlaß Hartmann, vol. H, pp. 71–75, 81–86, 89–91, 109–110.
52 TSD, Nachlaß Hartmann, vol. H, p. 121, quotation on p. 86. The minister’s orders to begin copying of Texas Instruments devices are mentioned in BStU AP 444/87 (file Werner Hartmann), p. 165.
53 TSD, Nachlaß Hartmann, vol. H, pp. 130, 131, 140, 147.
54 BStU Zentralarchiv HA XVIII, Nr. 9910, p. 12.
55 BStU AP 444/87, p. 7.
56 Schiefer, (Citation2018, pp.192–193, 196, 220–229, 230, 324–332, 338–340, 449–452, 460).
57 For a history of Carl Zeiss Jena, see Mühlfriedel and Hellmuth (Citation2004).
58 Carl Zeiss Archive (Jena) BACZ 27995; Carl Zeiss Archive (Jena), BACZ 24500, report from May 1958, pp. 95–104. See also Mühlfriedel and Hellmuth (Citation2004, pp. 175–177).
59 Carl Zeiss Archive (Jena), BACZ 24500, report from May 1958, pp. 87–88.
60 Carl Zeiss Archive (Jena), BACZ 24500, pp. 4, 95–104.
61 Carl Zeiss Archive (Jena), BACZ 24500, report from May 1958.
62 Carl Zeiss Archive (Jena) NG 91, “1. Entwurf,” 1959.
63 See Pröger (Citation2003, pp. 143–147), Albrecht (Citation1996), and Neunhöffer (Citation2001).
64 See Kaschlik (Citation2004, p. 22).
65 BStU Zentralarchiv MfS-HA-XVIII, Nr. 13337, p. 55 (“Erfüllung eines Beschaffungsauftrages für das V-System im VEB Carl Zeiss Jena,” dated January 2, 1970). On Gallerach, see Mühlfriedel and Hellmuth (Citation2004, pp. 184–200).
66 BStU, Archive number 14254/69, vol. 1, pp. 10, 42, 43, 62; vol. 2, pp. 166–170; vol. 6, p. 108; vol. 7, pp. 98–99, 100–102, 166–167, 168–169, 216; vol. 11, p. 259.
67 I found very few documents on this division. On Biermann and the changes at Zeiss in this period: BStU Zentralarchiv HA XVIII, Nr. 6900, pp. 13, 14; BStU Zentralarchiv HA XVIII, Nr. 5519, p. 5; BStU Zentralarchiv HA XVIII, Nr. 8649, p. 32; BStU Zentralarchiv HA XVIII, Nr. 9110, p. 8; BStU ASt. Gera XV/1890/77 “Michael,” Part I, vol. 2, p. 111; BStU ASt. Gera XV/1890/77 “Michael,” Part I, vol. 2, p. 121; BStU ASt. Gera JHS 22052, pp. 80–85. Also see Reinhard Buthmann (Citation1997, pp. 48–68, 80, 87, 94–95, 104–110); Mühlfriedel and Hellmuth, (2004, pp. 295–296, 298, 342, 371); Hellmuth, (2004, p. 119); Barkleit (Citation2001); Schreiner (Citation1999, pp. 20–26).
68 See Mühlfriedel and Hellmuth (2004, p. 315. My sources: BStU ASt. Gera XV/1890/77 “Michael,” Part I, vol. 2, p. 88 and p. 94. BStU ASt. Gera XV/1890/77 “Michael,” Part II, vol. 1, pp. 131 and 151–158. Examples of protecting Zeiss employees: BStU ASt. Gera XV/1890/77 “Michael,” Part I, vol. 2, pp. 97, 174–176, 193. Further examples in BStU ASt. Gera XV/1890/77 “Michael,” Part II, vol. 1, pp. 12–14, 204, 233, and 237–240.
69 Buthmann (Citation2020). I was not able to obtain a copy of this book before the submission of this article.