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 Board of Governors is requesting a review of the AOM Statement
of Strategic Direction (document below. If you have additional comments for
the Statement of Strategic Direction or specific inputs for MED domain,
please provide comments to me
mhornyak@uwf.edu and/or our MED division head,
Jim Stoner
stoner@fordham.edu .
Thank you for you help and assistance as always!
Marty Hornyak
MED's AOM Council Representative
**Excepts from Andy Van de Ven note: The development of this strategic
direction has been a central focus this year. The statement below contains
three major sections. The first section presents the mission, values, and
objectives for the Academy. The intention of this part is to state what we
stand for; i.e., the Academy'senduring identity, mission, and values. The
second section contains four strategic themes that serve as guidelines for
selecting specific actions and initiatives that the Academy undertakes to
advance its mission and objectives. Examples of specific action steps are
presented for each initiative. Some of these action steps are already
underway, while other examples are intended as a springboard for
interpreting and encouraging creative implementation of the major
initiatives. A concluding section explains some of the Board's thinking
behind specific ideas and statements in the document. The Strategic
Direction document is below.
The Academy of Management
Statement of Strategic Direction
Adopted by the Board of Governors, April 2001
Mission and Objectives
The Academy of Management is a leading professional association of scholars
dedicated to creating and disseminating knowledge about management and
organizations. The Academy�s central mission is to enhance the profession of
management by advancing the scholarship of management and enriching the
professional development of its members. The Academy�s membership consists
of scholars at colleges, universities, and research institutions, as well as
practitioners with scholarly interests from business, government, and
not-for-profit organizations.
The Academy is committed to shaping the future of management research and
education. Management is defined broadly to encompass all processes,
structures, and behaviors that are related to the work of organizations, as
well as the dynamics of industries, economies, cultures, and other
environmental forces that affect organizations and their employees.
This mission is guided by the following key values and objectives:
� Develop and communicate high-quality research, practice and teaching of
management.
� Advocate and cultivate ethical and responsible behavior throughout all
activities related to research, teaching, and practice.
� Provide a supportive and dynamic community for members from all
institutional settings, societies, and cultures to share and learn from each
other.
� Encourage and respect multiple perspectives from members throughout the
world in the development and practice of management knowledge.
� Build cooperative relationships and networks with other associations and
institutions committed to advancing the scholarship and practice of
management
Strategic Themes
The following four themes are central in guiding decisions about specific
activities
and services that the Academy undertakes to advance its mission and
objectives:
� Member Needs and Services � The Academy will focus its efforts and
resources primarily on serving the needs of its members as related to
research, teaching and practice. Academy members are diverse, and their
needs for professional development, training, and expression change over
time and differ by professional interests and career stages. Current and
future needs of members for the Academy as a whole and for each Division and
Interest Group should be ascertained frequently and used as the primary
criterion for deciding what initiatives and activities to undertake.
� Quality, Breadth, and Relevance of Scholarship - The Academy seeks to
advance excellence in scholarship, broadly defined to include research,
teaching, and practice. Knowledge advancements in each of these domains are
important, and we should not limit ourselves to one domain. We view research
as central to informing both teaching and practice, while teaching and
practice also inform research. We should always keep in mind that our
collective and individual scholarship should remain relevant, responsible,
and make a valuable contribution to society and its institutions. We need to
find ways to build closer links between research and practice in considering
issues of importance to practitioners and in improving the frequency and
clarity of our communication with them. We should also link with other
organizations and individuals who contribute importantly to management
knowledge.
� Growth and Diversity - The Academy seeks growth in the development and
enrichment of its members, not growth in membership or revenues for their
own sake. While most Academy members are academics, we seek and encourage
members from all walks of life who are interested in advancing the
scholarship of management knowledge.
� Global Perspective - The Academy is a member of the global and pluralistic
profession of management scholarship. Attention to global issues and
concerns is encouraged among all members of the Academy. The Academy fosters
alliances with other international and country/region-specific associations
that advance a variety of approaches to management scholarship. We value the
contributions and multiple perspectives of members from all countries and
regions.
Organization and Governance
The work of the Academy is largely carried out by hundreds of member
volunteers and leaders. We are a �bottom-up� organization, managed through a
representative and elective process. The Academy�s Board of Governors,
Council, and Division/Interest Group officers are elected for fixed terms by
the membership. Most chairs of Academy, Board, and Division Committees are
appointed for fixed terms of one to three years. This produces a continuous
turnover and renewal in leadership throughout the Academy. An Executive
Director and staff at the Academy of Management headquarters act to support
their work. The Academy's leaders, officers, and committees must take on
responsibility quickly, learning from the past, planning for the future, and
giving voice to all of its members. These leaders at all levels of the
Academy must continually strive to improve the Academy's services and
activities. It is important that the leadership reflect the interests of the
diverse membership.
We reaffirm the �Divisional� structure of the Academy. We recognize that the
Divisions and Interest Groups are the real �home� for most members�the place
where members volunteer and contribute their efforts. It is incumbent on the
leadership of each Division and Interest Group to assume responsibility for
satisfying their members� needs by designing and sponsoring an excellent
annual program and extending services throughout the year.
Core Services and Major Initiatives
Guided by the Academy�s mission, objectives, themes, and organization, we
have identified seven major areas of service provided to members. Within
each of these areas, we propose several new initiatives intended to improve
the quality of these services.
Several concrete and hypothetical examples of possible action steps are
given for each initiative. Many of these examples came from comments to
earlier drafts of this statement by Divisions/Interest Groups, Academy
Committees, and from several focus groups conducted with members at large.
Several examples represent changes already underway in the Academy, while
other examples are intended as a springboard for generating further ideas
and innovations. Within their respective domains, Academy divisions and
committees are invited to develop specific action plans that are consistent
with the Academy's overall strategic direction. We envision a three-year
time frame over which to launch these initiatives. Their implementation will
require wide participation and leadership from throughout the Academy.
1. Annual Conference - Each year we hold a major conference consisting of a
variety of important activities, ranging from workshops to paper
presentations and job placement interviews. It provides an occasion for
members from around the world to come together to build and renew
professional and social relationships. Partial proceedings of the conference
are made available on CD. To improve the conference, we propose the
following initiatives:
� Seek innovative ways to make the annual meeting a better venue for sharing
and learning from high-quality research (e.g., circulate papers on the web
beforehand; create more symposia; provide more opportunities for debate of
both theoretical and applied issues; hold theme meetings across divisions,
etc.)
� Foster a climate that encourages interaction and seeks innovative ways to
make the annual meeting more engaging (e.g., design a conference within a
conference; hold a second winter conference; provide more virtual spaces for
members to interact; arrange special sessions/conference for doctoral
students to share papers; hold orientation and �get acquainted� meetings for
new members and attendees from around the world; provide additional
incentives to
Divisions and Interest Groups for innovation; share best practices across
Divisions, etc.)
� Seek innovative ways to make the annual meeting more developmental for
members (e.g., hold PDW sessions for mid-career professionals on up-dating
methodologies and finding new research interests; organize more symposia and
paper sessions on teaching and practice; create forums for �work in
progress�, etc.)
� Develop innovative ways for research presented at the annual meeting to
make a greater impact on organizations and the larger society (e.g., seek
feedback from practitioners about issues in need of research; include more
practitioners in Division programs; provide summary of practice implications
from journals on website, etc.)
� Continue to use opportunities at the annual meeting for recognizing the
many members whose important contributions make the Academy successful
(e.g., recognize contributors and their many roles through web,
posters/pictures, plaques, and select an educator of year from each
division, etc.)
� Continuously improve the operations of the annual meeting (e.g. hold
extensive debriefing of the annual conference with division and interest
group program chairs; make the meeting more cost effective; conduct better
briefing for incoming program chairs, etc.)
2. Journals and Other Publications - We publish three major journals of the
highest quality, Academy of Management Review, Academy of Management
Journal, and Academy of Management Executive. A fourth journal, the Academy
of Management Learning and Education Journal, is anticipated to come on
stream January 1, 2002. In addition, a quarterly Newsletter contains news,
events, and activities of the Academy. Divisions and Interest Groups also
produce newsletters. To improve the journals and other publications, we
propose the following initiatives:
� Create new forms of information dissemination and publication of
management knowledge that meet member needs (e.g., consider establishing
Academy of Management Press; explore branding opportunities with publishers;
assess need for more journals commensurate with growth in membership;
establish task forces to prepare �white paper� series on issues in need of
research, the relevance of our research to practice, and an evaluation of
management trends and practices; explore possibility of establishing
Division journals or "field journals" like ASA and APA have; create
Division-published debate forums, etc.)
� Add services to the Journals (e.g., establish advance publishing of future
journal issues on the web; create greater diversity in editorial boards;
give greater attention to relevance and readability; create web links to
other journals; develop web-based summaries of research; place a summary of
each article up-front in journals; require section on managerial
implications for each article; publish each year a list of important issues
for advancing the management profession as gathered from research institutes
and surveys around the world;
publish more critical essays; journal editors hold session at every annual
meeting to help young authors; establish link on website to share
works-in-progress and getting mentor feedback, etc.)
3. Career Services - Each year we make available to members and universities
extensive resources for facilitating the job placement of all members, from
those just beginning their careers to those who are more established in the
profession. We should consider the following initiatives:
� Provide website service for a wider range of job placement information
throughout the year (e.g., expand information about job opportunities at
institutions around the world; add post-doctoral, visiting, and sabbatical
opportunities, provide information about salary ranges for various jobs,
etc.)
� Provide a market clearinghouse that links Academy members with prospective
employers of job opportunities and assignments (e.g., course and training
openings at corporate universities, consulting needs and project requests,
applied research opportunities, etc.,)
� Improve current job placement activities at the annual meeting (e.g.,
provide clearly defined and ample space for career placement interviews;
develop and communicate appropriate etiquette and norms for job seekers,
etc.)
4. Website - We anticipate that the website will become more feature rich
and act as an increasingly important hub for providing member services and
networking activities. To improve our website, we propose the following
initiatives:
� Enhance the user friendliness of the website with a broader range of
services. (e.g., consider establishing MyAcademy.Com that serves multiple
purposes for members and allows for greater customization; create method to
volunteer for various Academy activities; establish linkages to affiliated
professional associations and divisions; list job openings; establish
feedback mechanism such as �Ask the Division Chair or the AoM President;�
provide orientation for new members; publicize RFPs and other research
funding opportunities; establish hyperlinks to data resources and
non-Academy publications, etc.)
� Explore peer-to-peer or other networking opportunities that the web could
provide for members (e.g., self-organizing affinity groups; designate
keywords to identify members with similar interests; form discussion boards;
etc.)
� Create a web-based Academy knowledge base (e.g., share data bases and
research instruments; provide synopsis of findings on different subjects;
establish commonly used theoretical definitions, etc.)
5. External Relations � The Academy collaborates with other professional
associations in three ways: it has (a) membership in an international
federation (IFSAM), (b) relationships with associated societies that have a
very loose cooperative agreement with the Academy (including BAM, ASAC,
ANZAM), and (c) relationships with affiliated groups that have a much closer
working relationship with the Academy (including the five U.S. regional
AoMs, the Asia AoM, and the Iberoamerican AoM). The Academy also contracts
with a public relations firm to provide media coverage for Academy-published
research. The proposed initiatives below focus on improving our public
relations and fostering collaborative relationships with complementary
professional associations.
� Enhance our public relations effort to explain and communicate better what
the Academy does to a wider audience of institutions and society (e.g., tell
our story better on our web site ; expand media coverage; develop literature
tailored for different audiences, etc.)
� Encourage member involvement and participation in the professional
services offered by collaborating associations (e.g., attend conferences;
subscribe to journals; get involved as volunteers.) networking activities.
To improve our website, we propose the following initiatives:
� Enhance the user friendliness of the website with a broader range of
services. (e.g., consider establishing MyAcademy.Com that serves multiple
purposes for members and allows for greater customization; create method to
volunteer for various Academy activities; establish linkages to affiliated
professional associations and divisions; list job openings; establish
feedback mechanism such as �Ask the Division Chair or the AoM President;�
provide orientation for new members; publicize RFPs and other research
funding opportunities; establish hyperlinks to data resources and
non-Academy publications, etc.)
� Explore peer-to-peer or other networking opportunities that the web could
provide for members (e.g., self-organizing affinity groups; designate
keywords to identify members with similar interests; form discussion boards;
etc.)
� Create a web-based Academy knowledge base (e.g., share data bases and
research instruments; provide synopsis of findings on different subjects;
establish commonly used theoretical definitions, etc.)
� Strengthen relationships among collaborating associations to enhance the
sharing of experiences and the accomplishment of common goals (e.g.,
participate in task forces on common issues; facilitate the exchange of
ideas and experiences among associations� officers; explore ways of reaching
out to academics in the field of management who are not currently being
served by our network of associations, etc.)
� Explore new opportunities for collaboration among professional
associations serving related disciplines, e.g., accounting, finance,
marketing, public administration, or higher education, in general, e.g.,
AAHE projects and programs (e.g., address issues common to business school
faculty and other higher-education faculty; share best practices.)
� Explore new opportunities for relating to other associations that are
interested in the implications and applications of management scholarship
(e.g., explore relations with ASTD, AMA, etc.)
6. Governance � The Academy�s governance process and organizational
structure should support the mission and facilitate the strategic direction.
To ensure this and to provide high-quality services, the following
initiatives should be undertaken with regard to organization and governance:
� Continuously seek ways to communicate to members what is happening within
the Academy�s governance and organization structure (e.g., Newsletter and
website updates; more transparency in decision-making by various groups,
etc.)
� Continue to increase opportunities for members to participate in the
governance of the Academy (e.g., the Council; task forces, etc.)
� Periodically examine the Academy�s governance and organization structure
to keep it nimble, relevant, and responsive (e.g., establish task force to
review organization processes; invite feedback and suggestions on website,
etc.)
� Practically explore what can be done to address comments that the Academy
is too large and fragmented.
7. New Services and Member Feedback � The Academy will continually seek to
improve the range and quality of its service delivery beyond the main
activities listed above. In this light, we should anticipate and remain
responsive to member needs through the following initiatives:
� Develop more frequent and routinely scheduled surveys of members to
identify their needs and to assess the quality of various services and
activities (e.g., survey reactions to journals, website, annual meeting, the
profession, etc.)
� Continue to move ahead with recent initiatives designed to improve the
scholarship of teaching and practice (e.g., establish new theme committees;
communicate information about developments in distance learning; encourage
research on consulting theory and intervention, etc.)
� Investigate the possible enlargement of personal services to the
membership (e.g. legal information on intellectual property; tenure
practices at various universities; web links on AoM website; suggested
accreditation procedures for AACSB, etc.)
� Continuously find ways to improve orientation for new members (e.g.,
special publications; sessions at annual conference, etc.)
Board of Governor�s Perspective
A few comments are in order to explain the Board�s thinking behind the above
document, especially as it has been formulated, revised, and guided during
this planning process. We view these comments as separate from the document
itself. Board members have frequently engaged in lively discussions and
debated many issues, and in the end we seem to agree on the following points
that resonate not only with the Board but also with many who responded to
various drafts.
� We actively discussed the core purpose and identity of the Academy. Here
we decided to propose that the Academy of Management is an association of
scholars that exists primarily to serve the scholarship needs (research,
teaching and practice) of its members. We do not see the Academy acting as
an advocate of social and political change, but we do believe that the
Academy should serve as a leader in helping to shape the future of
management research and education.
� Another key area for our discussions was the meaning of "scholarship." Our
conclusion is that we should interpret scholarship broadly to include the
overriding goal of advancing knowledge of management research, teaching and
practice. In other words, we agree with Ernest Boyer�s 1 broad view of
�scholarship� as including the scholarship of discovery, teaching, practice,
and integration.
� We also discussed the meaning of "globalization" for the Academy. We are a
professional association providing professional development opportunities
for scholars interested in the subject matter of management and
organizations. Given that the subject matter we study is increasingly taking
on an international flavor, it is important that our membership have
opportunities to broaden their understanding of global issues affecting our
interests. We will continue to welcome scholars with diverse perspectives
from around the world who are interested in the mission, services, and
activities of the Academy.
� We debated the term "growth" and clarified that the Academy does not
pursue growth in absolute size for its own sake. Growth, however, may be an
outcome of effectively fulfilling our central mission of providing member
services and enrichment.
� We also discussed "who" are we attempting to attract as members of the
academy. Here we believe that while we will continue to attract mostly
academics, we should also be more open and encouraging to others who share a
strong interest in advancing the scholarship of management research,
teaching, and practice. We learn a great deal from others who practice and
study management but who do not reside in academe.
� Finally, we found it useful to avoid proposals in this document that
obligate individual agents or groups within the Academy to take specific
action steps (e.g., who or when to start a new book series, to create
partnerships with other associations, etc.); rather, we prefer to suggest
general but focused initiatives that will later encourage members of the
Academy at several levels to create and take actions on their own within
this broader framework.
1 Ernest L. Boyer, Scholarship Reconsidered: Priorities for the
Professoriate, Jossey-Bass Publishers,
1997.