From: Martin Hornyak [mailto:
mhornyak@uwf.edu]
THIS INFORMATION REQUESTS ASSISTANCE FROM AOM MANAGEMENT EDUCATION &
DEVELOPMENT DIVISION MEMBERS. PLEASE HELP IF YOU CAN PROVIDING REQUESTED
INFORMATION!
The Academy of Management Web Task Force is looking for input concerning the
redesign of its website. The redesign and reconstruction of the website is
pivotal to our ability as a society to carry out many of the initiatives
identified in the new statement of strategic direction. Please take a few
moments of your time to complete the 14-item AOM Online User Survey. The
link to it is provided on the AOM home page:
http://aom.pace.edu. Your
special attention to the items 9 and 14 of the
survey would be greatly appreciated.
The survey is completely anonymous and secure. No information is
being stored in the system except your candid responses. The survey takes a
short 5 minutes, if that, to complete.
Also, there is a special caucus sponsored by members of the Academy of
Management Council. Its purpose is to gather information on issues of
concern to the smaller divisions, with the ultimate goal of preparing
proposals for changes to the Board of Governors, if warranted. Attached
below is copy of the caucus description. Hope you will be able to join us
and
represent the issues that are of concern to the officers and members of your
division.
In order to accomodate as many people as possible, we have scheduled the
caucus at two different times. Please join us at either of the following
times:
Monday, August 6, 2:30-3:45 p.m.
Marriott Ballroom #3, Table 13
Tuesday, August 7, 2:30-3:45 p.m.
Marriott Ballroom #3, Table 12
Thank you for you help and assistance as always!
Marty Hornyak
MED's AOM Council Representative
Caucus Proposal:
Proposal for Caucus on
Issues Affecting Smaller Divisions
The Academy of Management is made of 22 divisions, however, it has been
traditionally dominated by the two largest: Organizational Behavior and
Business Policy & Strategy. The majority of the papers presented at the
annual meeting and of those presented in the journals are from those
divisions, and the governance structure of the organization is comprised
primarily of members from those divisions, since members are elected at
large.
The smaller divisions are of several types. The first consists of divisions
that represent fields of interest within the domain of one of the larger
divisions. They were developed in response to having a number of members
with interests in the field. For example, Conflict Management and
Managerial & Organizational Cognition are fields within Organization
Behavior. Thus many of the members of these smaller divisions are most
likely also members of the Organizational Behavior division and are more
likely to believe that their interests are being met, in terms of editorial
policies of the journals and governance issues of the Academy. The second
type of division is comprised of divisions that represent areas that are
marginally related to or distinctly different from Organizational Behavior
and Business Policy & Strategy, for example Entrepreneurship and Operations
Management. Their members are less likely to belong to one of the larger
divisions, and they may feel that they have unique needs that are not being
met by the Academy.
What sorts of needs are we talking about? While the Academy has been
sensitive to the funding needs of the smaller divisions, it has been less
responsive to needs related to the annual meeting, journals and governance.
For example, the 1/3 acceptance rule may mean that smaller divisions may not
be able to put on a full three-day program, leading to lower attendance at
the meeting and a slow death spiral of the division. While having standards
that vary by division would clearly not be appropriate, there may be other
solutions, for example allowing division program chairs to schedule industry
speakers, innovative teaching demonstrations, industry tours, etc., in order
to allow them to have a full program. Another example is lack of
representation of all the divisions on the editorial boards of the journals.
This means that papers submitted by members of smaller divisions,
particularly those not related to Organization Behavior or Business Policy &
Strategy, may not be assigned to reviewers who are knowledgeable about their
content. Because the Board of Governors is elected at large, there is
rarely representation by the smaller divisions, particularly those that are
not related to Organization Behavior and Business Policy & Strategy. These
and many other issues are important to the members of the smaller divisions.
We would like to propose a caucus devoted to issues faced by members of the
smaller divisions. It is originating from a subgroup devoted to issues of
smaller divisions and doctoral students of the Academy of Management
Council. We have discussed many of these issues by email, but would like to
have an opportunity to get together as a group and discuss them face to
face. In addition, we would like to get the officers of the smaller
divisions involved in this discussion; although many of the Council members
are former officers of their divisions, it is important to include the
current officers in this discussion.
The goal of this caucus would be to develop some tangible proposals that
could be submitted to the Board of Governors. We anticipate that these
proposals would be constructive, working within the structure and culture of
the Academy. We are simply trying to better meet the needs of all members
of the Academy of Management.