Internal integration problems o f the institutes

Internal integration, as a process o f gaining the capacity to act or the attainment o f actor status by the newly established Blue List institutes, is far from completed. Neither the scientific profile nor the social and formal structures can yet be described as stable. As first empirical findings show, however, there are differences in the degree o f progress made in this direction. This is attributable particularly to the differences in the institutional and personnel roots o f the institutes.

The institutes in the ’Forschungsverbund Berlin e.V.' come for the most part from Academy o f Sciences predecessor institutions. In some cases were adopted individual scientists; in

others, groups o f various sizes were taken in the new institute. With reference to the former Academy o f Sciences structures, these were research groups, divisions, or departments. In exceptional cases entire institutional nuclei were taken over. Figure 4 shows three basic types o f relations between the predecessor institutions and the present Blue List institutes.

Type

3 Splitting up o f Academy institutes into

various new groups or institutions

c k T •

Fig. 4: Basic types o f relations between newly established Blue List institutes and predecessor institutions

Type 3 shown in Figure 4 occurs most frequently in combination w ith Type 1. Particularly interesting for the empirical studies are Type 3 cases, where several Blue List institutes emerged from one Academy predecessor.

The ongoing case studies on four East Berlin institutes include all three basic types:

Institute 1 Institute 2 Institute 3 Institute 4

Type 2

On this basis it can be presumed that the processes o f internal integration in Type 2 institutes, where staff has worked for years or decades in largely stable research contexts, will run quite differently from integration in institutes that are heterogeneous in origin. But dynamic development can also be expected within Type 2 institutes.

In the coming section we will deal with some particularities in the staffing structure o f the newly established Blue List institutes and the possibly related integration problems they face.

Like all other Blue List institutes, the new research facilities dispose o f secure basic financing, and thus o f a certain number o f established posts. However, the workforce in the institutes at present exceeds by far the number o f such positions. This is not necessarily unusual, but the financing structure for additional posts (especially for scientists) differs from that in W est German Blue List institutes. Four o f the total o f eight East Berlin institutes receive funding from the so-called 'Reinforcement Fund' ('Verstärkungsfonds'). This consist o f supplementary public funds allocated by the Federal and State Governments.

In a certain sense they represent a substitute for the 'normal' third-party funds (from, for example, the German Research Association or industry) not available at the moment but which the institutional profile concept anticipates. The Reinforcement Fund permits the institutes to finance additional jobs. However, this funding is available only for a limited period from 1992 to 1996. Moreover, allocation is degressive, i.e., each year the institutes have to replace 20 % o f the originally available reinforcement funding by third-party finance.

To judge by the current level o f third-party funds acquisition, and if the estimates o f institute directors and divisional heads are accurate, the institutes concerned will succeed in only exceptional cases in completely substituting reinforcement funding by 1996. If this comes about, the total num ber o f jobs could in the worst case be cut back to the level o f the publicly financed staffing schedule.

Age structure of institute staff

The average age o f employees in new Blue List institutes is relatively high. The group o f efficient 30 to 40 year-old scientists with doctoral degrees as well as the younger generation are particularly poorly represented. This asymmetry was already marked in the Academy o f Sciences predecessor institutions. But it was aggravated by the fact that precisely representatives o f these groups transferred to West German institutes, abroad, or also to innovative firms. By contrast, the group o f 45 to 58 year-old scientists is overrepresented (see Fig. 5).

6%

Fig. 5: Age-structure o f staff o f Blue List institutes in the 'Forschungsverbund Berlin e.V.' (Source: Bund-Länder-Kommission 1993)

This age structure brings problems with it, especially in view o f the reorientation o f research that has taken place or is in course. A head o f division put it this way:

Some fields o f w o rk have been abandoned ... And although the people w orking in these areas were very competent and have a noteworthy list o f publications to their names, the most d iffic u lt th ing fo r them at present is to make a complete sh ift from F IE LD A 3 to F IE L D B. 52 o r 55 year-old scientists are schoolboys some o f the time. A nd in science that's really fatal. Either you're in the role at 30 - already a competent expert and not an apprentice or newcomer, o r its sim ply too late. L u c k ily we're not yet being measured b y these rigorous standards. But in two years' tim e we can expect that the confusion fro m the p o litic a l upheaval w ill no longer be a fa c to r... (Head o f division, Institute 1)

It appears to be a specific feature o f newly-established Blue List institutes that staff social interests constitute an independent criterion for specifically scientific decisions and in filling scientist vacancies. This was at least explicitly stated or implied by institute directors and divisional heads in the East Berlin institutes being investigated:

A high proportion o f the scientists are in their late 40s or early 50s. For them the B e rlin labour market is closed. So one can't sim ply shake hands and close the door on them. For a b rie f period this was possible after the revolution, but no longer. And besides all the scientific w ill and restructuring and adjustments and whatever, there's always a social responsibility, that one as head has, that can't be ignored, i t can't sim ply be shrugged o ff. To say science is the absolute centre o f things, and whatever i t costs we're going to get ourselves up to standard, you can certainly do that in a M ax Planck institute in the old federal states, but at the present tim e you can't in the new federal states. And on the whole that's really the general opinion here in the institute among divisional heads o r heads o f research groups (Head o f division, Institute 1).

This specific role played by social interests in making decisions on filling vacancies in the scientific sector is, however, presumably a transitional phenomenon that will diminish in importance as time passes.

The 'East-Westpersonnel mix':

In the process o f reorganizing the non-university research sector in the new federal states, the science-policy actors at the federal and state levels sought to achieve a mix o f staff from East and West in the new institutes. At the present time, however, there are considerable differences between institutes in the degree to which this has been attained. The 10 % benchmark figure for W est German participation in total staff has generally not been reached.

This statement must, however, be relativized if one looks at the ratio o f scientists from the old federal states to total scientific staff. Since the positions held vacant have mostly been taken by scientists and not by technical staff from the old federal states, the Western share in scientific staff at some institutes has already reached 20 % and will increase further in the coming years.

3 To m aintain the anonym ity o f interview statements, the author has concealed certain terms in the fo llo w in g quotations, the relevant passages being written in capital letters.

Leading positions in all East Berlin Blue List institutes are occupied to a disproportionate degree by W est German scientists. The founding directors, in so far as they were appointed, originate w ithout exception from the old federal states. This is also true for the greater part o f heads o f division or working groups, and the trend is still rising.

Apart from the differing degree o f 'East-West mix' mentioned above, there are also differences between institutes in the way in which scientists from the old federal states were appointed. As a rule, new appointments were individual. But in some cases whole groups or specialties from the old states were integrated into the institutes.

The institute directors and divisional heads interviewed frequently point to differing research traditions, experience, and socialization among scientists from East and West, especially to differences in basic and applied research orientation:

W e ll, w anting to keep the applied orientation is naturally widespread. A nd 1 fin d it quite right, because an institute that engages only in absolutely basic research comes to the p oint when it's completely in the clouds ... The R ESEAR C H A R E A we are engaged in is in so far basic research, but one has a very clear idea in the back o f one's head ju st w hy we're really doing it - and you have to have that. To this extent, w anting to do basic research w ith an applied aspect is naturally very widespread - it's general among the staff. This is, I w ould say, a characteristic o f many GDR scientists fro m their development. It's a tradition. A n d I th in k it's a good th ing ... Although I get the impression that the colleagues, especially those w h o 'll come fro m the old federal states and have been formed in a quite different tradition, that they'll certainly be doing more purely basic research. (Head o f division, Institute 1)

The type and intensity o f intra-organizationai conflict is at present correspondingly varied, resulting as it does from, among other things, the differences between East and West German members o f the institutes.