Dear IM Division Members,
It is that time of the year when we are getting ready for nominations. You can nominate yourself or nominate one or more colleagues in the AOM system.
Please submit your official nomination here:
https://apps.aom.org/divnomination. This is the only valid form of nomination.
Please note that the deadline for nominations is March 20th, 2019.
We have a definite opening for a Board Member. You can find a detailed description of the position/realistic job preview below.
You can also self-nominate for our other position roles, and will be considered if and when we have the need for additional members.
The Board Membership:
So are you interested in board membership or know someone who could be good for the job? This is my informal description of the job to give you a realistic job preview, encourage you to self-nominate, and describe the election process.
The IM Division Board Member Job:
This job is officially a 5-year job but effectively a 6-year job and some would tell you a lifetime position.
In the first year of a board member, s/he will be in charge of organizing the PDW. The primary tasks related to this include soliciting submissions, getting the submissions reviewed, and deciding on which PDW submissions to include on the program, and then designing the actual program.
The board member will also be an equal part of the board in charge of numerous division level decisions. This first year, the member will also serve as secretary which is the junior member role used to facilitate embedding the learning about the functioning of the board, and issues and opportunities that the division faces. This year may feel overwhelming as the division slowly starts to take over your life but it is a very gentle preparation for the second year on the board.
In the second year of a board member, s/he will be in charge of the whole program. That means dealing with hundreds of submissions, equivalent to managing several track at another conference, on top of managing a good chunk of the conference chair. Needless to say, nearly every minute of the waking day not spent in classes from January to August will be spent on division affairs, as well as a good chunk of the Fall. To survive the year, the member must give the division all their time as well as be extremely organized and dedicated.
Why should you self-nominate:
The job review may be a little overly realistic, but there are actually benefits to the job.
First and foremost, you have a chance to influence the direction of the field as well as the direction of the society. In your first two years, you decide on the terms of the call for submissions, which gives you a chance to make a mark on the field. In both your first and second year, you can solicit submissions on specific topics which can help you shape the field.
Second, you can use your influence and division resources to address a felt need in the field or that our members face or meet an opportunity you are sensing. Imagine how amazing it is to harness the whole membership efforts to serve others. This can be very gratifying.
Third, you will develop an amazing camaraderie with 8 amazing existing board members whom you will meet over the years. They tend to be relatively selfless, generous with their time, and we like to think amazing. The bond you will form will be unbreakable and they are individuals whom you can go to for help any time. It will be like having a family member. Even if you have not talked to your brother or a sister in a while, you know you can call them anytime if you have a question or need something.
Fourth, you will also get a chance to meet and select armies of selfless volunteers who do an endless amount of work on behalf of the division and its membership. They tend to be highly productive, enthusiastic and very busy individuals who still take the time to give. Knowing them intimately will be a true honor and pleasure.
Fifth, you will have your name in the limelight. This may have some negatives, like when your Facebook messaging account is flooded with requests from the reasonable to the outlandish. But it also can have a positive impact as your name will be known in the right circles.
Finally, the board membership is a great leadership academy. You may have to give it a huge chunk of your time for 5+ years, but you will be ready to lead the whole world after that. The truth is many are too burnt out at the end of the term, but most emerge and go on to do great things, such as serve as journal editors, serve at the broader AOM level or in other organizations/societies, etc.
The election process:
What will be visible to you is that two members are asked to run for election and the member who receives the most votes wins. A lot goes on in the background that you also need to know:
1.The board solicits nominations from the membership. The names received are added to a list that includes prior year nominations and any new nominations made directly by board members.
2. In selecting the two individuals who are put up for election, the board has several criteria in mind:
* Is this individual an IM Division member? All those running for election must be committed IM Division members. These are members who have been part of the division life - often for years if not decades.
* Is this an active member of IM Division? The board favors individuals who have been serving the division over the years and have shown their commitment to it. This also means that a good place to start if you are interested in board membership is by volunteering. There are various volunteering opportunities from punctual and easy to more time consuming and more involved.
* Has this person served the division in a leadership role? The board favors individuals who have acted in a leadership role. These roles include committee chairmanships, consortia or paper development workshops chairs, and others. Serving in such a role signals your commitment and organization and is a good way to help the board assess your ability for the job ahead.
* Does this person meet a diversity requirement? The division is committed to have members that are representative of its membership. We strive as much as possible for example to represent the different functional areas that the division encompasses as well as have regional and country representation.
* In rare instances, we will break one of the above rules to meet another, in which case, prior leadership experience will be considered heavily
3. We often need to ask many people from our list before we have two who say yes. This may not sound possible, but the people who are on the board often hold other leadership positions on boards at their institutions, etc. and may not be able to take on an additional responsibility. So the final list that goes to the membership for voting is nearly always very different than what anyone of us would have expected.
4. We are always at the vagaries of the voters. In some years, the votes are numerous and representative of the membership. In other years, despite our cajoling, only a small percentage of the membership votes. Predicting the vote is impossible. So when you do run for election, know that the result is highly uncertain. Our experience is that individuals who expected, and whom we expected to win, at times didn't, and individuals who were concerned about not winning won landslide elections. Either way, running for election is an honor, whether one wins or not. We even have individuals who run more than once for election.
If you have any questions, please email Professor Chacar, Immediate Past Chairwoman and Professional Achievement Awards Committee Chair @
chacara@fiu.edu<mailto:
chacara@fiu.edu>.
Best,
Professor Aya Chacar
Immediate Past-Chairwoman and Professional Achievement Awards Committee Chair
International Management Division, Academy of Management
Ingersoll-Rand Chaired Professor of Management and International Business
Florida International University
#5 Ranked Undergraduate International Business Program (2017, US News & World Report)
JIBS and Innovation and Management Board Member
Founder: Global Business Strategy Group
Moderator: Strategic Management Society Group