The Munich Diakonie was shaken last year by allegations against the then boss. A conversation with board member Andrea Betz about the lessons from the disaster, the problem of traditional management structures and the correct way to deal with allegations of sexualized violence.
The Diakonie Munich and Upper Bavaria was shaken last year: An employee accused the spokesman of the board of crossing borders, which he rejects. The woman leaves the Diakonie, after a year of internal reappraisal the boss is recalled. The Diakonie regional association is appalled by the crisis management and publicly distanced itself from the Munich Diakonie, whereupon the head of the supervisory board resigned in resentment against the regional association. The image of the social enterprise is damaged. One cause of the misery was that there was no concept on how to deal with allegations from the wide spectrum of sexualized violence among employees, from misplaced comments to physical assault. The evangelical social enterprise with 5,000 full-time employees and 2,500 volunteers has now drawn up guidelines for dealing with violations of limits in the workforce. Andrea Betz, the first woman on the board of the Munich Diakonie, on the lessons learned from the disaster.