Zwischen Normativität und Komplexität

The spheres of Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO) related to development policy have changed significantly in past years. Therefore NGOs are confronted more and more with areas of tension and contradictions that they influence and challenge with their work. In this context, NGOs that are active in education for sustainable development face a special challenge. All of the contradictions and areas of tension appear condensed in this field and need to be examined and processed adequately from the point of education. The resulting areas of conflict and tension mark the central border area and problems of educational work related to development policy that far outreach the practice of NGOs.     

Heirat und Familiengründung bei Deutschen und türkischstämmigen Personen in Deutschland

Turkish migrants differ in their fertility and marriage behavior from native Germans. These differences, especially those concerning the link between the two events birth of the first child and first marriage, will be examined in this article by using event history analysis with data of the Generations and Gender Survey from 2005 (main survey) and 2006 (additional survey of Turkish nationals). We address the question to what extent the link between first marriage and starting a family differs between these two groups and if the differences are accounted for by religious or educational differences. The key findings are: Germans often marry between getting pregnant and getting their first child. Turks, however, predominantly get pregnant within marriage. Turkish women who get pregnant before marriage have subsequently worse prospects on the marriage market. These differences are not accounted for by religious and educational differences. It can be assumed, however, that differences between Islam and Christianity are relevant.     

Brasilianität und emotionelle Handlungstheorie

The contribution describes the particular conditions that accompanied the development of the Brasilian national identity. ?Brasilianism“ is not only the basis for the dominating self-perception of the Brasilian people. In addition, the national myth forms a dominating foil to the social sciences. The criticism expressed here is mainly directed against the spiritus rector of the Brasilian collective identity, namely Gilberto Freyre and Buarque de Holanda, as well as against their responsibility for the consolidation of the myth of ?Brasilianism“ and the development of an emotional theory of action with the image of the ?affectionate“, ?sensuous“ and ?optimistic“ Brasilian in its center. Following this criticism a rational access is formulated to understand the national myth that is so very constitutive for Brasilia.     

Zwischen Säkularisierung und religiöser Reorganisation – Eine Analyse der Religiosität türkischer und polnischer Neuzuwanderer in Deutschland

This paper addresses the role of religion in the process of immigrant integration in Germany. Based on novel data (SCIP 2010/11) from a survey among new Polish and Turkish migrants, it particularly focuses on the impact of the migratory event upon religious participation and private religious practice as well as on early trends of changing religiosity in the receiving context. The study confirms, first of all, that both groups of newcomers experience a decrease in religious practices after the migratory event. This decrease is more pronounced among Muslim Turks than among Catholic Poles and more pertinent for worship attendance than for prayer, thus attesting to the relevance of religious opportunity structure. Secondly, it can be shown that among new Polish immigrants, religious decrease is more pronounced among individuals with stronger social ties to the secular German mainstream, while this is not the case for Turks. For them, thirdly, it seems that religious practices are being re-captured after the rather disruptive first couple of months in what may a called a process of religious re-organizations. These group-comparative findings attest to limits of classical assimilation theory and to the relevance of symbolic boundary dynamics. Overall, they underline that publicly visible religious diversity will remain a permanent feature of modern immigrant societies.     

Digitalisierung der Arbeit: Konsequenzen für Führung und Zusammenarbeit

In this paper, we focus on the characteristics and requirements of digital leadership and cooperation when teams are working on complex and dynamic project tasks, and cooperation is mediated by modern information and communication technology. Based on current research results we discuss the question, whether the thesis can be supported that leadership of complex digital teamwork can only be successful if leadership functions are delegated to the team and personal leadership is complemented by structural leadership. Despite many ambiguous research results regarding the effects of digital leadership current findings seem to support that more shared leadership in self-managing project teams seems to be helpful for team performance.     

Gelassenheit und Handlungsfähigkeit durch Introvision als Methode der mentalen Selbstregulation – eine Einführung

Introvision is a new method of mental self regulation. Its development is the result of a long term research program at the University of Hamburg headed by the author. Introvision aims at resolving inner conflicts and mental blocks and hence regaining equanimity and a clear mind in difficult situations. It is based on the assumption that inner restlessness is the result of cognitive affective introference, a process of overwriting cognitions which entails selectively linking them with increased arousal, tension and inhibition. Introvision aims at extinguishing such automatic introference in two steps. Step 1 entails finding the core conflict by a set procedure which is based on the theory of subjective imperatives. In step 2, the subject is asked to focus his or her attention on this cognition without actively introfering with it awareness of-what-is in order to extinguish the automatic Interference coupled with this cognition. This method needs to be practiced beforehand over a period of several weeks.     

Soziales Lernen – Angewandte Sozialpsychologie für Lernende und Lehrende in Schule und Universität

In this paper, two interdigitated current training projects will be presented. The presentation is to show that social psychological theories can be applied profitably for school development. The content is about social learning in school. Social learning is aimed at the acquisition of social and emotional skills. These skills are positively correlated with the cognitive development of students. Social skills need to be explicitly taught and practiced, especially if they were developed insufficiently in childhood. In the project Social Learning we examine what contents may include social learning. In the project Classroom Management we explore how these contents are best taught and this teaching can be taught. Insights of Social Psychology are introduced for each resulting different extracts of reality and their uses are discussed.     

Deutsch-polnisches Training: Persönliche und professionelle Erfahrungen mit Bikulturalität und Interkulturalität – Anspruch und Wirklichkeit

This report contains several experiences and authentic examples taken from highly professional German-Polish and Polish-German coaching groups. Accordingly, ideas are in part presented from a very personal point of view. Running “Intercultural activities” is very much praised in a world that becomes more and more globalized. But how do these activities work out in practice? The author’s goal is to explain the cultural differences in order for managers to be able to work effectively in international projects. The author illustrates her method and her goals by giving characteristic examples. She talks about demands as far as the personality of the coach is concerned, as well as about interferences within the coaching situation. A prevailing common culture in Europe does not (yet) exist which makes it even more important to talk about differences openly so that they can be understood and be overcome. Useful experiences are shared which shall help to build a ‘working’ trust level between representatives of different cultures. Cultural factors of power usage are described which show how power can be applied in different ways. The influence of language problems is also analyzed in detail. Finally, this paper shows that the most important is to keep an atmosphere based on cooperation: only when such an atmosphere is accepted as a natural daily routine can contacts among participants of different cultures be established as among equals and it is then possible to overcome the challenges related to differences of cultures.     

Willentliches Vergessen – Voraussetzung für Flexibilität und Veränderungsfähigkeit in einer sich permanent verändernden Welt

Gruppe. Interaktion. Organisation. Zeitschrift für Angewandte Organisationspsychologie (GIO) - Dieser Beitrag im Journal Gruppe. Interaktion. Organisation. stellt dar, wie willentliches...     

Die Dynamik von Führung, Vertrauen und Konflikt in virtuellen Teams

The importance of virtual teams for collaboration of globally networked organizations has long been debated. But although this new form of division of labor appears in nearly all companies, which poses special challenges to managers and team members, scientific findings and recommendations have not sufficiently been integrated into practice so far. This article discusses on the one hand the challenges and opportunities of virtual teams, on the other hand wants by the presenting of scientific findings both provide food for thought, as well as concrete recommendations for implementation in practice.     

Effektive Führung heterogener Teams

This article in the journal “Gruppe. Organisation. Interaktion. (GIO)” analyzes theoretical and empirical findings of international research on the role of leadership in diverse teams. While practitioners often tend to expect primarily positive effects of team diversity, research has revealed both positive and negative consequences on team performance. Thereby, realizing positive outcomes of diversity appears to depend on additional boundary conditions; among these, leadership is often considered to be crucial. According to our analysis of the literature, established leadership styles (e.?g., transformational leadership, LMX, leader consideration) may contribute to increased performance of diverse teams. In addition, they will be most effective when leaders perceive and treat their followers as individuals rather than as members of a (sub-)group and when they carefully adjust their behavior to the most critical diversity attribute in the team. Based on these results, we provide practical implications for leadership in diverse teams and discuss how adequate leadership skills can be systematically developed in organizations.     

Determinanten der Sportaktivität und der Sportart im Lebenslauf

This paper investigates the impact of social class, occupational and family life-course, relocation, age, generation and gender on exercise. Longitudinal, life course-oriented analysis enables identification of the (often diverse) conditions for (re-)uptake and discontinuation of exercise. The paper takes a detailed look at different types of exercise, enabling exploration of the various motivating influences and barriers involved. The database is a retrospective representative survey of the 50 to 70 year old population of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. The results show that higher educational qualifications are associated with higher levels of exercise, whereas manual labor and – among women – childcare are associated with lower levels of exercise. With respect to the impact of education, cultural rather than economic capital seems to be the determining influence. Other factors – (un-)employment, partnership, relocation, age and cohort – tend to have more complex effects on exercise. Though being a member of the workforce reduces the likelihood of starting to exercise, it also reduces the likelihood of dropping out. Though partnership encourages the dissemination of exercise, initiation of a relationship is also associated with a higher incidence of discontinuation. Relocation prompts both initiation and discontinuation of exercise. Surprisingly, up to the over-50 age group, increasing age is associated with an increased prevalence of physical activity, especially among women. The results of analysis of social differences in terms of types of physical activity can be used in health programs to provide scientifically founded recommendations for the promotion of specific types of physical activity for lower educational groups, seniors, and other social groups whose lifestyle tends to be inactive.     

„Solidarität“ in südasiatischen Gesellschaften

Taking South Asia as an example, it is shown how efforts to designate “solidarity” as a universally valid category are handicapped on the one hand by the ambiguity of the concept, on the other by its culture-specificity. Based on a linguistic, historical and social overview, it is demonstrated that the discourse parameters for “solidarity” as they dominate in the German language discourse are little suited for the South Asian reality. This leads to critical deliberations on the assumption that concepts and notions of the so-called West are to be seen as universally valid and universally binding.     

Grundrechtsschutz durch Verfahrensgestaltung: Verfassungs- und völkerrechtliche Vorgaben für die Durchführung kindschaftsrechtlicher Verfahren

Articles 6 II 2 and 2 I of the German Constitution require the Federal Republic of Germany to create procedural rules guaranteeing the fundamental rights of children. The same message may also be derived not only from Art. 6 I, but also from Art. 8 I of the European Convention on Human Rights. This is exemplified by judgements dealing with duration of proceedings, fair trial and execution of orders made by the Court.     

Struktur und Identität des Nicht-Religiösen: Relationen und soziale Normierungen

With reference to recent research, the article outlines central elements of a sociological analysis of the non-religious. Starting with a definition of the non-religious via its relation towards the religious, we distinguish different forms of this relation and three levels of its analysis. Then we analyze two different societal constellations: a strong religious norm in the US, and a strong non-religious norm in the GDR. We show how an arena of conflicts emerges in the debates over religion, in which religious and non-religious positions struggle for dominance. We analyze different variations of non-religious positions in this context. In both constellations the non-religious position acquires a positive identity by reference to science. In one case this is motivated by the attempt to maintain the borders of the scientific field; in the second case it is motivated by a claim of superiority, which questions the legitimacy of the religious in general.