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The purpose of the work is to determine the role and functions of mediator in the process of decision-making in modern business systems.

The methods of systematization, classification, structural and functional, comparative and logical analysis, and formalization are used.

Six types of mediator are used: state regulator or independent organization, regulator of integration association, psychologist and pedagogue, business consultant, top manager, and auditor (controller). It is shown that the role of mediator in the process of decision-making in modern business systems consists in quick overcoming of emerging contradictions with their functioning and development and preventing their turning into conflicts and crises. Mediator can perform the following functions in the process of decision-making in modern business systems: provision of balance of interests of business and society, provision of balance of interests of business system and integration association of which it is a participant, management of conflicts of interests of employees during collective decision-making, provision of balance of interests of employees and business managers, solving contradictions of interests of business managers, and monitoring and control over observation of laws and interests of business owners. A generalized structural and logical scheme of mediative solution of contradictions during decision-making in a modern business system is compiled.

It is substantiated that mediation could be in high demand by modern business systems, as it allows for successful overcoming of their internal and external contradictions.

Purpose – There are a number of ongoing debates in the organizational literature about conflict in groups and teams. We investigate two “conflicts about conflict” (i.e., two meta-conflicts) in the literature: we examine whether and under what conditions conflict in workgroups might be beneficial and we also explore the idea that group members may not always perceive the same levels of conflict.

Design/approach – We bring together the research and theorizing of the past 15 years to inform the current state of literature and move forward research on these conflicts about conflict. We examine and develop the two meta-conflicts to illustrate the importance of studying these ideas and to provide guidance for future research.

Findings – These two meta-conflicts in the conflict literature are important to investigate as conflict is a multifaceted construct that contains many dimensions that may influence group outcomes. We explore these two issues by briefly reviewing the literature on conflict and then highlighting some of the recent research on the conflict debate (i.e., is conflict constructive or destructive?) and conflict asymmetry in workgroups.

Originality/value – We identify interesting areas that future researchers could explore with respect to team conflict and conflict asymmetry.

In this chapter we discuss attitudinal and affective factors in the context of science teams. We review some of the key findings on conflict, trust, and cohesion in teams and discuss the differentiation between team-related and task-related definitions of each. In so doing, we discuss their relevance to team effectiveness in science teams and provide guidance on notional areas of research for understanding how these are related to effectiveness in science teams.

This chapter focuses on brokerage in the prestige economy of the Gabor Roma ethnic subgroup in Romania. It argues that the necessity of the brokers’ employment as well as their economic importance comes from the significant uncertainty characterising the prestige-object transactions, that is, these brokers are occasional entrepreneurs specialised in risk management. The theoretical purpose of the chapter is to demonstrate that brokers and goods mediated by them can be associated with more than one socially constructed transactional identity (cultural, political, economic, etc.) at the same time. It also aims to highlight the shifting nature of these identities – they are not constant and context-free qualities, but highly context-sensitive social constructions that can appear in various combinations.

The Slender Man, an online monster born to the internet in 2009, loves to live in the boundaries, specifically the boundary between the digital and the non-digital worlds. This chapter seeks to explore the full engagement of the community with the myth, analysing it structurally to understand the way, in which the narrative’s construction reflects the relationship of monster to society and society to itself. The sincerity in which the narratives are told, at first appearing intense, is actually a form of play, revealing a boundary blurring between play and non-play as well. While fully engaging in play, the community’s structured narrative is more than this: pulling them into a trapped world in which they play with death in the digital. The triadic structure of the Slender Man narratives reveals an anxiety to the community and their place within broader non-digital worlds.

This study focuses on the guide role, experience context, and the subsequent cocreation strategies regarding the tourist experience. The guide role and the guide–tourist interaction are explored by using a qualitative research design. To illustrate how guides perceive their role, the experience context, and the strategies adopted in order to cocreate experience value for tourists, two different experiences are discussed: a guided tour at a rock art site and a guided nature-based tour in a northern landscape. Interpretive data analysis reveals how the tourist context may encourage or restrain the guides’ uses of different cocreation strategies, in particular storytelling. In addition, the findings indicate that the guides have different perceptions regarding their role, which influence their view and use of the available cocreation resources.