Did Jurgen Schrempp make all executives sign their own letters of
resignation when he became CEO of Daimler-Benz?
[Needs a citation or reference].

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Request for Question Clarification by juggler-ga on 30 Aug 2003 14:28 PDT

Hi.

I've located a reference in well-respected national magazine about a
top executive at that company making other executives sign their own
letters of resignation.

However, the executive was not Schrempp.  It was a different person. 
Are you still interested?

Based on additional research, I'm confident that I have located the
reference that you want.

Some executives at Daimler-Benz were indeed required to write letters
of resignation. However, the executive who instituted this policy was
actually Helmut Werner, then CEO of the Mercedes-Benz division of
Daimler-Benz.

Helmut Werner's policy was reported in the August 26, 1996 issue of
BusinessWeek magazine.

"...In one team-building exercise to show how serious he was, Werner
had all his managers draft letters of resignation. The message: Your
jobs depend on how much you help in Mercedes' transformation."
source: BusinessWeek. "The New Mercedes:Can the once stodgy builder of
big-ticket luxury cars trans form itself into a full-range auto
maker?"
August 26, 1996;  pg. 34
http://www.businessweek.com/cgi-bin/register/archive.cgi?y=1996&w=&h=b3490132.arc.htm
[Free registration must be completed in order to view the article]
search strategy:
businessweek: benz, Schrempp,  letters, resignation

I hope this helps.

Brilliant. Fast, accurate, concise answer. 
Exactly what I was looking for.
And a tip on how to research better.