Abstract:

This doctoral thesis examines organizational development in public management, using the example of a police department as a basis. It follows the theory of autopoietic social systems according to Niklas Luhmann and establishes what can be observed from a social science point of view within two subsystems of this public management organization (police authority and police clients) and what consequences may result from this. The dissertation consistently follows Luhmann’s circular way of thinking in which every term used precludes knowledge of the following terms. The author adopts a critical stance towards Luhmann and persists on one central point where everything converges: an autopoietic social system is regarded as a social system which develops new communication elements from the communications of which it already consists.