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Honolulu Program Components: Type of Sessions

The Academy of Management annual meeting includes a variety of sessions:

Professional Development Workshop (PDW) Sessions

The Professional Development Workshops run from Friday 1 p.m. to Sunday noon. In contrast to the refereed scholarly part of the Academy that takes place from Monday morning until Wednesday afternoon and has standardized time blocks and formats, they may include a wide variety of types of sessions and time blocks. These workshops include Doctoral Consortia and Junior Faculty Consortia that are run by the Academy’s Divisions, Interest Groups and Committees. The only things they should NOT include are symposia and papers. All the divisions and interest groups have designated PDW Chairs who manage the selection procedure.

In addition, during this pre-conference time, the Academy has been making space available to several of the Academy’s affiliates (e.g., Iberoamerica and Asia Academies of Management) for holding their independent programs that fall outside of the Academy’s review processes.

Proposals for PDW sessions must be submitted to the division PDW Chairs by November 15, 2004. These must be entered into the Program Web Developer by December 6, 2004.

Refereed Scholarly Sessions

These sessions take place from Monday morning till Wednesday afternoon of the Academy meeting. They include three types of sessions:

I.  Paper sessions, based upon papers submitted to individual divisions, take three forms.  Interactive Paper (IP) sessions are a round table discussion with the author, where each Division Program Chair identifies innovative papers best discussed in this format. The IP Chair, Greg Young, will construct the IP sessions.  Shared Interest Track (SIT) sessions, based upon papers with broad cross-division interest, are nominated by the Division Program Chair.  SIT sessions are constructed by the PDW Program Chair, Tom Lee. Paper Presentation (PP) sessions are constructed by the Division Program Chair out of those accepted papers not included in either IPS or SIT sessions.

Interactive Paper (IP) Sessions. In the spirit of a more democratic exchange of ideas, we are encouraging divisions to take advantage of the opportunity to make papers sessions interactive. IP sessions are grouped papers that are presented in a manner that encourages more discussion and interaction among authors and attendees than is possible during a traditional paper presentation format.  Each Division Program Chair selects at least 10% but no more that 15% of their submitted papers to be scheduled in Interactive Paper sessions.  Papers ideal for Interactive Paper sessions are the unique, one-of-a-kind, novel contributions that can generate discussion. Also, data-intensive papers that need more time for discussion are appropriate. In 2002, all Interactive Paper authors were invited to post their papers on a web page that can be found on the Meeting Web Page designed to allow those interested to download them so they could be read before coming to the interactive discussion.  We plan to do the same in 2004. These papers count against your units but not as much as papers in your division session. Please see Appendix 7: Time Unit Allocation Sheet. The deadline for providing Interactive Papers to Greg Young is March 4, 2005. By March 16 Greg will enter and schedule all interactive paper sessions into the Program Web Developer.

Shared Interest Track (SIT) Paper Sessions. In response to complaints that the Academy is becoming too balkanized, the SIT sessions were created to break down barriers between divisions by grouping together papers from different divisions that deal with a common topic or issue.  In 2004, Ken Smith constructed 31 SIT sessions of 4 papers each.  The criteria he used for generating SIT sessions were: 1) the papers addressed the same topic or theme, and 2) they included papers from 3 or 4 divisions. Tom Lee, Program Chair-elect, will construct the 2005 SIT sessions. The deadline for nominating SIT papers is February 21, 2005. Note that these should be accepted papers by your division. Program Chairs will be notified via the Program Web Developer which of the nominated papers have been selected for SIT sessions by March 1, 2005.

Paper Presentation (PP) Sessions. Paper Presentation sessions are constructed by each Division Program chair from the pool of accepted papers that are not included in IPS or SIT sessions. Division Program Chairs will combine accepted papers into sessions based upon common themes reflecting the interests and domains of their divisions. We encourage the Division Program Chairs to construct these sessions in a fashion that encourages audience participation. Program Chairs can choose to include Session Chairs/Facilitators or Discussants as they think are appropriate for each session.  Care should be taken to encourage presenters, facilitators and discussants to actively motivate the audience to participate (and to want to read the paper!). To this end, a portion of the Division Papers can be Visual Presentations (these will not be formally presented, but rather authors will present a poster version of their paper), please see Appendix 9: Guidelines for Preparing a Visual Paper Presentation. These will be display in a special exhibit hall where presenters can take questions from attendees interested in following up on issues the papers raise. Division Program Chairs choose what papers they want to allocate to each type of presentation. Papers in Visual Presentations count against your units (0.2) but not as much as papers in your division session (1.0). Please see Appendix 7: Time Unit Allocation Sheet.

The deadline for submission of papers to the Divisions is January 10, 2005.     

II. The second type of referred session is the Symposium, submitted to one to three divisions, in which a number of speakers discuss a common topic or theme in a manner that brings new insights. There are two forms of symposia: Panels and Presenter. In Panel Symposia the purpose is to engage a group of panellists in an interactive discussion.  There are no titles associated with any panellists’ participation. In Presenter Symposia, titles are associated with each presentation.  Note: presenter symposia can involve coauthored papers and co-authors will be listed in the printed program. Symposia could be singly sponsored or jointly sponsored by one to three divisions.

The deadline for submission of symposia to the Divisions is January 10, 2005. 

III. In addition to these standard types of sessions there are other types of sessions such as:

All-Academy Symposia, Showcase Symposia, Other All-Academy Sessions, and Academy Caucuses.

All-Academy Symposia. All-Academy symposia sessions directly address the conference theme, which for 2005 is “A New Vision of Management in the 21^st Century.” Additional considerations in selecting proposals for All-Academy Symposia include: 1) it will most likely attract a large audience, and 2) it will most likely draw audience from several divisions/interest groups.  All-Academy symposia are not charged against a division’s time allotment, and thus the division could accept another symposium in its place.  Besides more program time, selection into the All-Academy part of the program can give a division/interest group more visibility. All-Academy Symposia for 2005 will be selected by the Academy Program Chair, Ken Smith, and All-Academy Symposia Chair, Jim Guthrie. The deadline for nominating All-Academy symposia is January 21, 2005. On February 14, Ken will inform you of status of your nominated sessions.

Showcase Symposia. These are jointly sponsored symposia (not paper sessions) that are nominated by at least two divisions, and selected by the Academy Program Chair, Ken Smith. Unlike All-Academy Symposia sessions, showcase symposia do not need to address the conference theme.  Selection of showcase symposia is based on the following criteria:  1) the topic cuts across and appeals to many divisions; and 2) the symposium has the potential to draw a large audience. The deadline for nominating showcase symposia is January 21, 2005.

Academy Caucuses.
SUNRISE CAUCUSES AT 2005 AOM MEETING
For this year's meeting, we would like to take full advantage of Hawaii's beautiful surf, as well as AOM attendees' jet lag, to provide you with an opportunity to make your early morning hours productive, fresh, and energizing. So, we're trying something new: The AOM caucuses will be scheduled from 7:00 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. on the Tuesday and Wednesday mornings of the conference in the Sheraton's beach-view rooms. We'll provide enough seating and tables - and coffee - to get you started. But, we'd be surprised, if not mildly disappointed, if at least a few of the caucuses didn't migrate to the beach-view balconies, if not the beach itself.

A caucus is defined as a group of Academy members who share a topical interest, a professional concern, or some other affinity. Caucuses are designed to provide a convenient, informal way for Academy members with shared interests to find one another and to develop a sense of community within the larger Academy structure.

Although caucuses have traditionally been organized around an eclectic range of topics and issues, this year we will place greater emphasis on cross-disciplinary, integrative, and/or emergent research in the formative stages of development. So, consider leveraging the caucus format to develop and promote a "symposium-lite" designed to explore new ideas, build a new community of scholarship, etc. in an informal, relaxed environment.

Send your proposal with the following items to Caucuses Chair Wally Ferrier at the University of Kentucky (walter.ferrier@uky.edu), by March 11, 2005:

a) Caucus title
b) Organizer's full contact info
c) Description/abstract of caucus (250 words max.)
d) Commitments from at least five other AOM members to participate in caucus (e-mailed commitments pasted into caucus proposal are OK)

Reach out. Take the plunge. What better way to start your Academy of Management mornings than to meet and chat with interest-similar friends - old and new - over a cup of coffee and an awe-inspiring sunrise at Waikiki Beach?