Dear SIMians:
Once again, I think our Division knocked it out of the ballpark (Fenway?—excuse the colloquialism) with interesting, novel, and exciting papers, symposia, workshops and consortia that were especially relevant to the AOM theme, “Understanding the Inclusive Organization.”
Thanks to all of you who made this possible, including our fantastic leadership team. Andy Wicks processed over 450 paper and symposia submissions to put together a program that represented a wide range of topics in the SIM domain. Katherina Pattit created a terrific pre-program with PDWs that addressed interesting topics like human dignity, humanistic management, ethics, modern slavery, impact investing, the promise and problems of inclusive organizing, and more. Michelle Westermann-Behaylo and Naomi Gardberg put together a robust doctoral consortia, beginning with our “fireside chat” with Sandra Waddock on Thursday evening that included 35 rapt doctoral students, facilitator Michael Johnson Kramer, and the lovely venue of Suffolk University’s board room, thanks to SIM member Tammy Maclean. We missed Naomi, who did an incredible amount of work for the DC but could not attend due to a family emergency. We are so grateful for all the hard work that you and Michelle did to make the DC a success! Last, (but not least!), Nolywe Delannon and Pushpika Vishwanathan arranged a wonderful junior faculty consortium with ONE and PNP Divisions. Well done!
Once again, we had some big award winners for Best Business Ethics Paper (sponsored by the Journal of Business Ethics), Best Paper, Best Student Paper, Best Dissertation and Best Book. Please read about the winners later in the newsletter. We owe special thanks to the SIM members who agree to serve on these review committees and their Chairs, including Naomi Gardberg, Noushi Rahman, Cristina Neesha, Kam Phung, Jon Bundy, Colin Higgins, Rob Phillips, Carolyn Dang, Ann Barraquier, Paul Harper, Sarah Glozer, Erica Steckler, Lea Stadtler, Nikolay Dentchev, Francois Neville, Arno Kourula, Johanne Grosvold and Theodore Issa. It was a joy to see the Sumner Marcus Award presented to Oliver Williams (University of Notre Dame) for his outstanding contributions to the field. Additionally, Jeanne Logsdon (University of New Mexico) received the Ann K. Buchholtz Mentorship award for her support of students and scholars over the years. You can read about these outstanding individuals in more depth later as well.
What more can I say about our team…except that we have all benefited from the leadership and guidance provided by those who have led us to this point in time. David Wasieleski, our outgoing Division Chair, is an exemplar of servant leadership--with all of the traits including listening, empathy, stewardship, foresight, and a commitment to the growth and development of a community. Our immediate Past Division Chair, Doug Schuler, has also provided support and leadership over the years that is appreciated by all of us. Amelia Carr (Treasurer) is the cash flow guru who makes sure we stay in- budget, and we greet two new RALs this year- Cristina Neesham and Erica Steckler as Steve Brammer and Naomi Gardberg roll off this duty (many thanks!). Thanks also to our amazing communications team including SIM newsletter co-editors Jae Lee and Florian Findler, as well as Benjamin Alexander, Vincenzo Vastola, and Daniel Alonso-Martinez. We are a collegial team, thank goodness, which is particularly helpful when navigating the oft-complex AOM system. If you are confused about who does what in SIM this may seem like a rambling list, so we will be sure to post an updated Leadership and Organizational Directory on the website.
I am excited to be Division Chair this year. There are big shoes to fill, especially as we begin a 5-year review of the Division, with David Wasieleski leading our team in this initiative. Please know that I will do my best to solicit your feedback as we continue to review/broaden our domain and solicit new members from all over the world, with our ongoing commitment to inclusiveness and diversity. Our SIM team will also be taking a look at AOM’s new initiative. The Strategic Project Fund, which provides funding for projects that can help connect and integrate scholars from geographies with little AOM membership, among other things. This is the first year that it is being launched, and frankly, it seems a bit vague, but please check it out: https://aom.org/Member-Services/Strategic-Project-Fund-2020.aspx Let us know if you have any suggestions for a Division project.
Call me or email me if you would like to help with anything! We need replacement members for several award committees, and of course, we also need you to sign up to review for next year. Our Program Chair, Katherina Pattit, and our PDW Chair, Colin Higgins can use your help; their Calls for Proposals will go out soon. Thanks for all that YOU do for SIM (and excuse my propensity to use exclamation points to convey my excitement)!
Best,
Jill Brown
Division Chair, SIM, 2019-2020
jbrown@bentley.edu