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The article deals with competition between primary schools in Berlin. The focus is on the perception of competition and the process of student selection – despite school law restrictions for primary state schools. The aim is to find out whether and in what way primary school leaders perceive a competitive situation and how they act in view of second-order competition.

Berlin primary school leaders' statements were analyzed, which were collected and evaluated using quantitative and qualitative methods.

Results show that schools with a good reputation are more likely to benefit from competition because a good reputation may increase the demand for spots at that school and may enable the school to select “desirable” students. State school leaders are more limited in their actions, while private school principals are more autonomous and are better able to make a match between a school's orientation and families' ideas.

The study is limited by its small sample size, yet it provides a basis for further research and gives much needed attention to selection processes at primary schools in Germany.

This is one of a few studies looking at the perspectives of primary school leaders regarding the competitive situation and in particular the selection of students.

The purpose of this paper is to examine how the categorization of a football player influences the evaluations of a football team among participants from Mexico and to test for the moderating role of need for closure. In order to test the hypotheses, the authors conduct two experiments.

The authors used an empirimental approach. Specifically in the experimental condition, the authors brought to mind, in one condition, the team membership of Lionel Messi and assessed the evaluations of Barcelona FC. In the control condition, the authors did not bring to mind the membership of Lionel Messi and only assessed the evaluations of Barcelona FC.

Results from two experiments showed that Barcelona FC obtained better evaluations when participants assigned Messi as one of its players. Evaluations were not moderated by a variable known to influence information processing such as need for closure.

It is a psychological truism that human judgments are context dependent. How good one judges a football team to be, depends not only on the specific qualities of the team, but also on the standard of comparison used to make that judgment. Surprisingly, scant attention has been given to context effects in team or player evaluations (see Puente-Díaz and Puente-Díaz, 2014 for an exception). The investigation seeks to fill this gap.

There are several infectious agents in the environment that can cause persistent infections in the host. They usually cause their symptoms shortly after first infection and later persist as silent viruses and bacteria within the body. However, these chronic infections may play an important role in the pathogenesis of schizophrenia and Tourette's syndrome (TS). We investigated the distribution of different neurotrophic infectious agents in TS, schizophrenia and controls. A total of 93 individuals were included (schizophrenic patients, Tourette patients and controls). We evaluated antibodies against cytomegalovirus (CMV), herpes-simplex virus (HSV), Epstein-Barr virus, Toxoplasma, Mycoplasma and Chlamydia trachomatis/pneumoniae. By comparing schizophrenia and TS, we found a higher prevalence of HSV (P=0.017) and CMV (P=0.017) antibodies in schizophrenic patients. Considering the relationship between schizophrenia, TS and healthy controls, we showed that there are associations for Chlamydia trachomatis (P=0.007), HSV (P=0.027) and CMV (P=0.029). When all measured viruses, bacteria and protozoa were combined, schizophrenic patients had a higher rate of antibodies to infectious agents than TS patients (P=0.049). Tourette and schizophrenic patients show a different vulnerability to infectious agents. Schizophrenic patients were found to have a higher susceptibility to viral infections than individuals with TS. This finding might point to a modification in special immune parameters in these diseases.

The purpose of this study was to examine the facilitator competencies viewed as important by experienced small group facilitators. Participants were provided with a literature‐generated list of facilitator competencies and asked to rate each competency on frequency of use and importance and to add other competencies believed important. Results and implications are discussed.

Current political, economic and societal developments have led to high uncertainty in organisations, which may negatively impact employee well-being. Leaders play a crucial role in this context. This study explores how interventions support leaders and their followers in times of uncertainty.

We conducted 22 interviews to evaluate the experiences of two interventions, coaching and mental health awareness training, both implemented in two corporate organisations in Czechia during a merger and acquisition and the COVID-19 pandemic.

Our findings show that both interventions equipped participants with resources to manage change, such as increased self-awareness and self-efficacy, and improved coping strategies for stressful situations. Participants gained better leadership skills and knowledge to support employees and themselves when facing mental health issues. Our findings reveal that the contextual factors in the two organisations led to different mechanisms and content for coaching but similar mechanisms in mental health awareness training.

This research contributes to the understanding of targeted interventions to support leaders during times of uncertainty. Implications for practitioners and Human Resources when developing context-specific support strategies are discussed.

The purpose of this paper is to propose research‐based principles of conflict management that are grounded in practical experience.

The paper presents a review of literature on topics related to each of four proposed conflict management principles as well as practical advice on implementing the principles.

The principles are as follows: take action early in the conflict cycle; use ground rules to encourage productive discussion of disagreements; discuss substantive conflict issues openly with the entire group; and discuss interpersonal conflict issues with the entire group only if doing so is concurrent with the purpose, time availability, and skill set of the group.

The principles should be useful to anyone who works with or on teams.

This paper provides a useful review of literature and proposes four conflict management principles that are based on research and grounded in practice.

The objective, sustenance and reward of research is information. But information does not yet grow on trees nor through the agency of monoclonal antibodies. It requires careful harvesting, winnowing and dissemination, albeit with electronic tools.