Social Issues in Management (SIM)

PDW Chair: David Wasieleski, Duquesne University; simduquesne@gmail.com

2016 SIM Division Professional Development Workshops: Call for Proposals

The Social Issues in Management (SIM) Division seeks proposals for the Professional Development Workshop (PDW) sessions (Friday, August 5 and Saturday, August 6) at the 2016 Academy of Management (AOM) Annual Meeting in Anaheim, CA. The common logic of scholarship in the SIM Division is our shared interest in understanding responsible managerial behavior at the individual, organizational, and trans-organizational levels.

PDWs should promote attendee's professional development – either in terms of teaching or research. PDWs differ from the Academy's scholarly program and are managed separately from the All Academy Theme Program and the Scholarly Program's paper sessions, symposia, and caucuses. As such, PDWs should not mimic, for example, presenter symposia in which a series of academic papers is presented with minimal audience involvement. Rather, PDWs should focus on widespread participation and skill development. PDWs aim to attract and involve a broad audience, including members of other Academy Divisions. PDWs should be interactive, inclusive, provocative, and preferably creative.

PDW Proposals may choose to incorporate this year's conference theme: Making Organizations Meaningful. In her discussion of the theme posted on the AOM conference website, 2016 Academy Program Chair, Mary Ann Glynn, notes:

"The meaningfulness of an organization is its expression of purpose, values or worth.  It involves a sense of significance that goes beyond material success or profitability; rather, it highlights how organizations can play a larger and more positive role in the world.  It is an approach embraced by the next generation of workers, the millennials (in their mid-to-late 30s), who often focus on making a positive difference in the world and a contribution to society -- with organizations, not in spite of them....Making organizations meaningful matters, and it matters in a multitude of ways that are both immediate and far-reaching, ranging from environmental sustainability to social equality, and extending across multiple levels of analysis."  

This year's theme clearly holds relevance within the SIM domain and has huge implications for the work we do in this division.  Submitters are encouraged to reflect on the conceptual and practical links their workshop offers to this idea of organizational meaningfulness.   Connections to the theme are sought after in all three PDW tracks: research, pedagogy, and professional development.

While we encourage proposals related to the conference theme, we also welcome non-thematic proposals about other topics within the SIM domain including, but not limited to, ethical decision-making, corporate social responsibility, corporate philanthropy, natural business ethics, stakeholder engagement and relations, environmental management, base-of-the-pyramid, social entrepreneurship, moral development, public policy, and corporate political strategy. PDW workshops may have a variety of structural forms, including roundtable discussions, interactive panels, site visits, service-learning activities, creative/artistic sessions, entrepreneurial incubators, and other activities that help SIM members develop professionally.

In your PDW proposal, please include the following sections:

1) Research, Teaching, or Professional Development: Please indicate which PDW Track your submission fits into.  Efforts will be made to include an array of workshops on meaningful scholarly research, pedagogy, and faculty development ideas.      

2) Workshop Focus and Importance: What is the focus of this workshop and why is that important to SIM scholars/teachers?  If relevant, please indicate how it relates to this year's Academy theme.

3) Structure and Audience Engagement: (a) How will the audience engage in interactive activity during this workshop? (b) How much time is needed and how will it be used?

4) Outcomes: What will be the valuable outcomes for participants? What useful outcomes can you envision from this workshop that could be shared with SIM members not in attendance?  Indicate clearly the goals of the workshop.

5) Key Biographies: Provide short biographies (~125 words) for each organizer and key presenter.

The submission deadline for PDW proposals is January 12, 2016, at 5:00 PM ET (NY Time).

Acceptances will be done on a rolling basis, however, so you are encouraged to submit early. Please contact David Wasieleski before December 11, 2015 if you would like to discuss proposal ideas or if you have other questions regarding PDW sessions. All submissions must be made online at http://aom.org/annualmeeting/submission/.  Please also email a copy of your proposal to David Wasieleski at: simduquesne@gmail.com.