From: Jacob Eisenberg [mailto:Jacob.Eisenberg@ucd.ie]
<st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Dear</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">Academy</st1:placetype></st1:place> member,
Apologies for the rushed and last-minute fashion of this invitation. I wish to invite you to attend an emergency-scheduled forum on conflict resolution initiatives, which will take place during the <st1:placetype w:st="on">Academy</st1:placetype> of <st1:placename w:st="on">Management</st1:placename> meeting in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Atlanta</st1:city></st1:place> on Monday, Aug. 14th, 5:30-6:30 in the Hilton Hotel, Paulding Room. This forum was prompted by the recent eruptions of violence in the <st1:place w:st="on">Middle East</st1:place> and other conflict-ridden areas in the world. The aim of this grassroots initiative is to create an opportunity for an informal dialogue among <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placetype w:st="on">Academy</st1:placetype> of <st1:placename w:st="on">Management</st1:placename></st1:place> members in order to explore ways in which we can use our knowledge and skills to contribute to co-existence and to reduction of group conflict around the world.
I want to express my appreciation to the President of the Academy, Tom Cummings, who endorsed this grassroots initiative and was kindly able to facilitate my request for a time-slot and room put aside for this purpose during the meeting. I would also like to thank the Chair of the International Theme Committee, <st1:personname w:st="on">David Lamond</st1:personname>, who enthusiastically endorsed this idea and to other members of the Academy who wrote me in support of gathering this forum. I want to emphasize that while Tom and David gave their blessings to this dialogue, the forum is not a formal Academy function as it was not submitted through the regular program selection channels ahead of the annual meeting. In pursuing this forum I intend to fully follow the Academy's charge of being an a-political, non-partisan association whose first and foremost goal is to encourage creation and dissemination of knowledge relevant to its members and to foster communication among members on issues of related interest. In this spirit, I aim to use this ad-hoc forum to facilitate a conversation on how can we play a constructive role in activities directed at resolving conflict through management-related programs (illustrative ideas include, but not limited to, designing a special management program whose students would come from countries-in-conflict; sponsoring an award to acknowledge members activity in this area, an annual event/summit where activists would meet to plan conflict-resolution activities).
Presently, I am asking your immediate assistance in disseminating this invitation to any interested parties. Would the program chairs of CM, MED, <st1:place w:st="on">OB</st1:place> and IM divisions and the ITC please forward this message to their list members? There is no need to RSVP-just come along and bring your ideas, energy and hope to the conversation. The ground rules of this forum are respect for each other's ideas and an open-minded, civil dialogue. I thank you for taking the time to consider this grassroots initiative and for helping to pass the word about it.
Warmest wishes,
Jacob
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jacob Eisenberg, Ph.D.
Academic Director, CEMS Masters in International Management
<st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">UCD</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">School</st1:placetype></st1:place> of Business,
<st1:placetype w:st="on">University</st1:placetype> <st1:placetype w:st="on">College</st1:placetype> <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Dublin</st1:city></st1:place>,
Belfield, <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Dublin</st1:city></st1:place> 4,
<st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Ireland</st1:country-region></st1:place>
Tel: +353-1-716 4774
Fax: +353-1-716 4762
Email: Jacob.eisenberg@ucd.ie
http://www.ucd.ie/busadmin/eisenberg.htm http://ucdbusiness.ucd.ie/cems