MESSAGE FROM THE EAM PRESIDENT
Eric Kessler, Pace University
Greetings! The Eastern Academy of Management (EAM) is a terrific organization and I am proud to be its president.
I would like to start by extending congratulations and appreciation to those who made last year such a good one for EAM. Thank you dt ogilvie for your leadership, Shanthi Gopalakrishnan and team for your fantastic program, and David Desplaces and team for an outstanding conference site. Thanks are also due to Mzamo Mangaliso, Tony Butterfield, Leon Malan and team for an incredible EAM-I conference in Cape Town, an experience that I will long remember. It is also important to acknowledge the hard work of outgoing directors Laurel Goulet, Steve Meisel, and Kent Zimmerman as well as outgoing officers John Ogilvie (VP Membership), Alan Eisner (VP at Large), Leyland Lucas (Secretary), and Marguerite Schneider (Newsletter).
You will be happy to know that due to these fine individuals and their predecessors, EAM is on the rise. Our last two domestic conferences inspired submissions rates that were among the highest in the association’s recent history. No doubt this was due in part to the engaging themes of Organizational Wisdom and Managing Ethically, and this year looks to continue the trend. Program Chair Ed Christensen has established the theme of the 2006 conference as “Management Scholarship, Teaching, and Learning in the 21st Century” and promises a great cast of featured speakers and sessions. The conference will be taking place May 10-13 in scenic Saratoga Springs NY where Craig Tunwall and team are hard at work making the arrangements. I encourage you to read their comments in this newsletter and to submit your best work before the deadline of 9th December.
I would like to use the lion’s share of my column to share some of the exciting developments that the EAM will be pursuing in the academic year 2005-2006.
There are two strategic initiatives on the near term horizon. First it will be a priority to better “make a difference”. This follows from the premise that our collective knowledge is under-applied and there exists significant opportunity to help shape and guide management as they face the challenges of the 21st century. The objective is long standing in the academic community but extremely elusive. Over a decade ago, the AoM President told its membership “Colleagues, if we believe highly in what we do, if we believe in the significance of advanced thinking and research on management, then it is time we showed it. We must recognize that our responsibility is not to ourselves, but rather to the institutions around the world that are in dire need of improved management, as well as to those individuals who seek to be the most effective managers they possibly can be. It is time for us to break out of our closed loop. It is time for us to matter” (Hambrick, 2004). Notwithstanding this call to action, just a few years back in the AoM Conference Call it was similarly lamented that “Academy members…have been far less successful, however, in making sure that our knowledge is applied. Much of our knowledge fails to cross the gap between research and practice. Consequently, few practitioners read our research or appreciate its practical value” (Cummings, 2003). This is unacceptable to the EAM given its mission and membership potential. So you can look forward to our organization taking steps to address the issue through initiatives such as greater practitioner involvement, expanded engagement with private and public institutions, targeted press releases, and launching an EAM White Paper project that will speak to critical management issues in a way that is useful to managers. We have also established a special committee on ethics to engage the organization on important matters such as codes of conduct and social responsibility, with more on this later.
Second, we will be working to enlarge and enliven our membership community. The EAM has a loyal and dedicated core and this is no doubt one of its greatest strengths. This is a dynamic core that has embrased a wide diversity of people as they have progressed in their careers. In fact the recent leadership has participated in the EAM from their days as doctoral students and have served the organization for over a decade. We would like to preserve this support network but also expand it. One initiative will involve an academic outreach to all AOM members and their deans in the northeastern United States, communicating the value of our organization and inviting their participation. This will complement the ongoing EAM Liaison project. We will also explore synergies with complementary organizations in ways than can enhance our membership and perhaps conference experience. Current members will also find many opportunities to contribute to the success of the EAM. We have established several committees – e.g., ethics, technology, journals - each headed by a Director (see website) and I encourage you to contact one of them if you would like to work in their area. It might be of interest that one of these is the Elections and Nominating Committee. It has become clear that the current system of officer elections can be improved. We would like our entire membership and certainly everyone who attends the annual conference to have an opportunity to run for office and to cast a ballot. Whereas there are many logistical and policy issues involved, rendering drastic overnight changes unrealistic, we are taking necessary steps to alter the current practice and increase the opportunity for everyone to be involved in the process. To this end, if you have any suggestions about how we can make EAM a better and more successful organization, please contact me (ekessler@pace.edu) or anyone on the Board.
In terms of operational initiatives, there are two that I would like to speak about at this time. One is the general drive to become more effective in our internal activities. There are several movements underway or planned to accomplish this objective. As mentioned previously the eight EAM directors are each chairing committees that will address different engagements and activities. We have also increased the planning horizon for the annual conference beyond the one-year scramble and now have in place a VPArrangements-Elect who is working on 2007. Our finance committee is proposing important measures to insure the fiscal health of the organization and a new sponsorship team is hard at work preparing for the next conference. The job descriptions manual is being updated to reflect the changing parameters of positions’ responsibilities. We take these steps to make a prosperous future for the organization but at the same time want to maintain a deep appreciation of our history. To this end we have formed an archival committee that will collect and make available important documents, have explored an expanded role for EAM fellows (e.g., consortia, memtoring), and have named an official EAM historian. A second initiative relates to the efficiency of operations and in this vein we are improving on the way we approach program, arrangements, information, and journals. Perhaps not the most riveting stuff for a newsletter but nevertheless important for the organization.
Finally there are several evolving initiatives that deserve a few words. We are continuing to enhance our technological and communications platforms. The response to the new online submission and review process has been overwhelmingly positive and the process will keep improving. We are continuing to expand our international scope and synergies. South Africa was a wonderful success and all signs are that EAM-International will keep dazzling – next stop, Amsterdam. We are continuing to enhance the academic rigor and reputation of the conference. An improved review process, aggressive outreach campagn, developmental doctoral and junior-faculty consortia, and the presence of top scholars as well as first-rate sessions will assure that we produce a high quality and engaging product.
These are indeed exciting times and I hope we will work together for an outstanding Eastern Academy of Management.