Psychology professor David Scheffer becomes Head of Science of PAWLIK Group

The PAWLIK Group wants to set "new standards in human resource development" with AI-based research into implicit motives. Business psychologist David Scheffer is setting up a Diagnostic Lab for this task.

The PAWLIK Group is bringing a prominent proponent of motivation research into its ranks. David Scheffer, Professor of Business Psychology at the NORDAKADEMIE, University of Applied Sciences, will be the new Head of Science. Scheffer's research focuses on the influence of implicit motives on professional and consumer behavior. At PAWLIK, the 52-year-old will establish a Diagnostic Lab. The aim is to record personality traits and, in particular, implicit motives even more precisely and to derive the right recommendations for HR measures from them. In this way, people will be able to better develop their potential.

Joachim Pawlik, CEO of the PAWLIK Group, wants to use the Lab to set "new standards in HR development." "With more precise and faster personnel diagnostics, people can be better developed individually and deployed more appropriately," says Pawlik. The point, he says, is to understand people so that they can learn sustainably. Companies benefit when they take into account the uniqueness of their employees. Pawlik is convinced: "Diagnostics is gaining importance in personnel development, and we want to expand that."

David Scheffer explains, "With AI-based approaches, we can now capture the complexity of personalities even more accurately and evaluate them reliably and quickly." He focuses on unconscious motives because they influence about 80 percent of decisions in business life. At PAWLIK, he sees ideal conditions for making practical use of scientific findings.

The Diagnostic Lab is integrated into the consulting company scan.up AG, which also belongs to the PAWLIK Group. The scientist Scheffer and the psychologists of scan.up AG work hand in hand here. Philipp Klein of scan.up wants to use the Diagnostic Lab to expand scan.up AG's consulting service for customers: "The goal is always better development results and more suitable staffing."

Philipp Klein, Head of Operations & Product Development at scan.up, plans to use the Diagnostic Lab to expand scan.up AG's consulting service for customers: "The goal is to achieve ever better development results and more suitable staffing."

In an interview, Prof. David Scheffer explains the potential that AI can offer in personnel diagnostics, the role that language plays in this process, and why we should understand people even better, especially in light of the shortage of skilled workers.

Vita David Scheffer

Born in 1970 in Richmond, Virginia, and raised in the USA, Ethiopia, and Germany, David Scheffer studied psychology at the University of Osnabrück. In 2001, he completed his doctorate on the topic of implicit motives at Helmut Schmidt University in Hamburg as part of a project funded by the German Research Foundation. After further years of research and teaching in the field of personnel and organizational psychology, Scheffer accepted a professorship at NORDAKADEMIE, University of Applied Sciences in Hamburg, in 2010. Here he heads the business psychology course. His research interests focus on the influence of implicit personality systems on professional and consumer behavior. He has taken the lead in developing established measurement methods for personality differences and has published internationally. David Scheffer has been "Head of Science" in the PAWLIK Group since March 1, 2022.

About PAWLIK Group

PAWLIK Group is one of the leading management consultancies for systemic personnel and organizational development as well as personnel consulting and digital consulting. The company was founded in 1996 by Joachim Pawlik in Hamburg. More than 300 experienced consultants and employees at 15 international locations support clients worldwide in their challenges. Through ventures and investments in innovative service providers, the PAWLIK Group is constantly expanding its range of services to meet the challenges of customers in the digital transformation. The consultants help companies to successfully implement their plans. They achieve this with an integrative, systemic and thus unique approach to consulting.

About scan.up AG

scan.up AG, based in Hamburg, has been advising clients in personnel and aptitude diagnostics for more than 20 years. It supports the selection of suitable candidates and helps with the targeted development of personal and professional competencies. In addition to classic methods such as assessment centers and 360° feedback, scan.up AG offers its own developed potential analysis, which covers up to 120 personality factors of a person. It is based on the scientific findings of Prof. Julius Kuhl, one of the world's most renowned personality researchers. scan.up AG is a company of the PAWLIK Group.