Diversity & Inclusion Theme Committee (D&ITC)
Professional Development Workshop Program: Call for Proposals
Academy of Management Annual Meeting, Boston, MA, 2019
Co-chairs: Banu Özkazanç-Pan, University of Massachusetts, Boston, USA (banu.ozkazancpan@umb.edu) and Paul Donnelly, Dublin Institute of Technology, Ireland (paul.donnelly@dit.ie)
The mission of the Diversity and Inclusion Theme Committee (D&ITC) is to provide learning and
outreach opportunities for Academy members that foster a more diverse and inclusive AOM
community. The Committee's work is guided by the following core values and principles: 1)
Diversity is all of the multiple lines of difference that characterize our current and future
membership; 2) Inclusion means that all members have the opportunity to be involved and
participate, to have their voices heard and valued, and to have influence on the AOM; 3) We
facilitate and champion AOM members' full participation in the activities and decision-making of
the Academy; 4) The growth and success of the AOM are dependent upon having a globally
diverse perspective and broadening the scope and impact of our field; and 5) the AOM will be
strengthened and improved to the degree that we incorporate the knowledge and perspectives of
its diverse membership and constituents.
The D&ITC welcomes proposals for its PDW program at the Academy's 2019 meeting in Boston,
MA. The meeting theme, Understanding the Inclusive Organization, reminds us that organizations
encompass whole individuals inclusive of differences in cognitive, linguistic, ideological, economic,
and other diversity dimensions. Inclusive organizations value and support the full-participation of
all individuals by being intentional about diversity, group membership and status. Despite this, our
knowledge of inclusive policies and practices is emergent, so much so that the creation, operation
and consequence of inclusive organizations remains elusive. In such light, possible questions
related to the meeting theme and D&ITC's mission include (but are not limited to):
• Are there critical perspectives on organizational inclusiveness that can inform AOM's
inclusiveness? How might different critical perspectives inform the conceptualization of, and
practices around, diversity and inclusiveness for AOM?
• Do the meaning and import of diversity and inclusion differ across AOM divisions, groups,
committees, journals and publications, and affiliated and associated societies? If so, with what
consequence?
• How does AOM's structure, culture and/or identity contribute to, or detract from, inclusiveness?
What would an inclusive structure, culture and identity look like for AOM? And how would such
a structure, culture and identity be given effect in practice?
• What can AOM learn from extant scholarship on inclusiveness? How can we translate such
learning into policies and practices to develop a more inclusive AOM?
• What does inclusiveness entail as a practical matter? What is inclusive practice in the context of
AOM?
• What does inclusiveness look like in AOM members' different geographic and cultural contexts?
With what consequence for AOM?
• What does inclusiveness look like for AOM members outside the confines of the annual AOM
meeting? With what consequence for AOM?
• What does it mean to be an inclusive organization? What are the characteristics of an inclusive
organization? How does AOM match up?
• What practices, policies and/or data can help drive the empowerment and contributions of all
AOM members?
The above are a non-exhaustive guide. Indeed, we very much welcome proposals that address
other issues -as long as they are consistent with the D&ITC's mission, values and principles-
such as:
• Ways to understand current levels of inclusion and ways to enhance inclusion in the AOM, to
include understanding what might be keeping those who are not AOM members, but could be,
from joining.
• Enhancing member knowledge and skills pertaining to diversity and inclusion, in their multifaceted
forms and manifestations, to inspire behavior that enhances all members' felt inclusion
at AOM meetings and related activities.
• Helping AOM leaders serve the diversity of member needs and backgrounds and foster more
inclusion across multiple lines of diversity.
• Providing opportunities for positive and developmental interactions among members of AOM
including making those with diverse backgrounds feel that they belong,
• Proposing new and creative ways of organizing the AOM towards enhanced inclusion.
PDWs present opportunities to engage critically, creatively, developmentally, interactively,
inclusively and provocatively with the meeting theme and/or with topics/concerns of interest to
the D&ITC's mandate. They afford spaces to explore and experiment with new workshops, in
addition to building on formats that have worked over the years, in ways that support and bring
life to the D&ITC's values and principles.
In the process of developing your proposal, we encourage you to think about five questions as
they pertain to a Professional Development Workshop, along with suggestions in A Guide for
Creating and Managing a Good Professional Development Workshop.
Within your proposal, we ask you to address how you will disseminate word about your PDW, and
encourage attendance, participation, and engagement. Also, in a spirit of building connections
across the Academy, we ask you to identify opportunities for co-sponsorship with other
divisions/interest groups through briefly indicating how your proposal may be of interest to the
members of up to three divisions and/or groups.
By all means, contact both of us (banu.ozkazanc-pan@umb.edu and paul.donnelly@dit.ie) to
discuss ideas you may have for a proposal, but please do so before December 15, 2018, so we
have time to work with you and you have time to then develop your proposal. All proposals will be
subject to a peer review process. The submission website will open late November, 2018, and the
deadline for receipt of proposals is Tuesday, January 15, 2019, at 5pm ET (NY Time), through the
Academy's submission website.
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Banu Ozkazanc-Pan
Visiting Associate Professor of Sociology, Brown University
Associate Professor of Management, UMass Boston
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