Was Achtsamkeitstrainings bewirken und wie sie in Organisationen wirksamer werden

In this article in the journal Gruppe. Interaktion. Organisation (GIO) we discuss the impact of individual mindfulness trainings on organizations. Therefore, we combine research on high reliability organizations with aspects of the newer sociologist system theory. First we seek to define the construct of mindfulness and we distinguish between individual and collective mindfulness as two different qualities of mindfulness. Using an example from the banking sector we discuss the challenges developing mindfulness in organizations and what intervention strategies could work. We distinguish between the three system levels psyche, interaction and organization. Doing this it becomes clear that interventions have to consider the coupling of the three different levels: How interventions have to be designed to effect all three levels?     

Conservation and enhancement of the green infrastructure as a nature-based solution for Rome’s sustainable development

Urban Ecosystems - Three quarters of the European population live in urban areas, which is expected to increase to over 80% by 2050. The well-being of urban citizens appears to be closely linked to...     

CHARISMA,CANNABIS, AND THE CROSSING OF AFRICA

This essay, based on a chapter from a forthcoming study of the exploration of Central Africa, tells the story of the encounter between the German travelers Paul Pogge and Hermann Wissmann and a charismatic extatic cult or movement, the 'Children of Hemp.' With the aid of the movement Wissmann accomplished the first documented crossing of the continent (from West to East). Eventually he was also material in drawing the leaders of what was essentially a modernization movement into the organization of what became the Congo Free State. A tale of trust and friendship betrayed and chances missed, of exploration turning into occupation, and of grave consequences for the Congo up to the present.     

Latency and Crisis: Mutual Aid Activism in the Covid-19 Pandemic

Qualitative Sociology - Activists have responded to the Covid-19 pandemic by organizing for mutual aid: creating collective action to meet people’s material needs and build ties of...     

Rebound effects of progress in information technology

Information technology (IT) is continuously making astounding progress in technical efficiency. The time, space, material and energy needed to provide a unit of IT service have decreased by three orders of magnitude since the first personal computer (PC) was sold. However, it seems difficult for society to translate IT’s efficiency progress into progress in terms of individual, organizational or socio-economic goals. In particular it seems to be difficult for individuals to work more efficiently, for organizations to be more productive and for the socio-economic system to be more sustainable by using increasingly efficient IT. This article provides empirical evidence and potential explanations for this problem. Many counterproductive effects of IT can be explained economically by rebound effects. Beyond that, we conclude that the technological determinism adopted by decision-makers is the main obstacle in translating IT’s progress into non-technical goals.

A powerful affine invariant test for multivariate normality based on interpoint distances of principal components

In this paper, a probability plots class of tests for multivariate normality is introduced. Based on independent standardized principal components of a d-variate normal data set, we obtained the sum of squared differences between corresponding observations of an ordered set of each principal component observations and the set of the population pth quantiles of the standard normal distribution. We proposed the sum of these d-sums of squared differences as an appropriate statistic for testing multivariate normality. We evaluated empirical critical values of the statistic and compared its power with those of some highly regarded techniques with a wonderful result.     

Pathological gambling: A comparison of gambling at German-style slot machines and “Classical” gambling

German-style slot machines and related legal issues are described. On the basis of a survey on 437 members of self-help groups (Gamblers Anonymous) in Germany, slot machine gamblers were compared with casino gamblers on such variables as sociodemographic data, gambling behaviour, financial expenditure, emotional experience while gambling, symptoms of pathological gambling, psychosocial consequences and gambling related delinquency. The casino gamblers' gambling behaviour is financially more extensive. There were similarities regarding the emotional intensity of the gambling experience. However the casino gamblers show more pronounced symptoms of pathological gambling and the psychosocial consequences of their gambling behaviour are more severe. In spite of these differences, the data show that for young people slot machines can be as stimulating and therefore as dangerous as casino gambling. The young slot machine gambler runs a similar risk of acquiring a pathological gambling habit as the casino gambler.I would like to thank Dr. Gerhard Meyer for his support and his comments on the first draft of this article which is based on data from a research project led by him.     

Psychotherapy as an eductional process

Clients in psychotherapy with social workers, psychiatrists and psychologists learn things that they did not know previously. This learning modifies their view of reality and themselves. Clients learn that their problems are, to an extent universal, interpersonal—both out from themselves and to themselves from others, due to experiences in their past in their families, perhaps solvable by identifying with successful others, often due to unrealistic expectations about themselves, others and existence in general. Successful therapy is marked by culture-building interaction by the client and the therapist with the client's subjective understanding modified to enable greater autonomous action.