Learnings from the 'Operation Car Wash’
LEIZ researcher and students from ZU travel to Brazil to conduct field research on the relations between business and civil society
‘Learnings from the Operation Car Wash’ is a research project which focuses on measures against corruption in Brazil that go hand in hand with management instruments, specifically in state-owned enterprises in Brazil. Furthermore, it deals with the question, how integrity in managerial decision-making is being fostered. Hence, the importance of going beyond compliance, has become an issue of public interest in the aftermath of the Lava Jato investigations. An enormous curruption case with an ongoing money laundering investigation against the oil company Petrobras. The investigation is called Lava Joto or "Operation Car Wash" because it was first uncovered at a car wash shop in Brazil.
Thus, legal and institutional anti-corruption frameworks, especially the state-owned enterprises law 2016 (SOE Act) occupy an important role within this project.
The research group that has been organised by Dr Julika Montecinos and headed by Isabel Jandeisek aims to understand what should be done and what could be done to enhance organisational learning. The research has been be conducted in cooperation with Transparency International Brazil, a civil society organisation that has been working with different state and non-state actors to promote integrity and transparency in Brazil.
The student research group is composed of Zeppelin students, Carlota Memba Aguado and Daniela Gangl, both undergraduates within the Politics, Administration and International Relations programme. Since the beginning of the year onward, preparations including desktop research on Lava Jato, specifically regarding guidelines on corruption, transparency and integrity have been carried. In close cooperation with our project partner, Transparency International Brazil, experts for interviews have been identified. The interviewees represent Brazilian state owned enterprises as well as civil society organisations that have worked on anti-corruption.
Book series
The field research in Brazil is an important part of the transcultural research project. During this research visit, LEIZ researcher Isabel Jandeisek and the students will conduct a series of research interviews with relevant stakeholders. The academic exchange with professors and students enhance the transcultural experience.
The case study of the business- and law schools of ZU's local partner university, Fundação Getulio Vargas (FGV), and its empirical results will be published in a book series on “Relational Leadership - Case studies from Brazil”.
LEIZ-Communication Management
Contact: evelyn.pachta@zu.de
Operação Lava Jato (Operation Car Wash):
‘Operation Car Wash’ is an investigation launched by the Federal Police of Brazil in 2014 to investigate a scheme of systemic corruption in the country, involving private as well as state-owned companies, politicians and political parties. The Investigation was named Lava Jato (Portuguese for Car Wash) since the first target was a car wash in Brasilia that was under investigation for being used for money laundering. Lava Jato is known as one of the biggest corruption scandals in the world tracing the web of corruption back to many international companies linked to other Latin American countries as well as countries overseas. This case has a special importance to Brazil due to the judicatory reforms that were made in order to process and sentence some of the most powerful people of the country.