Chair's Message

The past year has been one of exciting renewal for OMT.

To single out a few developments, OMT is launching its new OMT Podcast this fall, a key initiative spearheaded by our communications chair Hovig Tchalian and social media coordinator Deborah Anderson. It will be hosted by Tanja Ohlson from Oxford and will feature, for instance, interviews with OMT Distinguished Scholars.

Likewise, the new OMT Website launched this summer, and as you will see it has many new ways of accessing information and joining the conversation. Do check it out and do get involved!

Led by Tal Simons, OMT also reimagined our awards, which were designed by Random Happiness, changing them from plaques into three-dimensional sculptures – hopefully an added incentive to submit your papers to OMT!

We were also excited to announce the new “Responsible Research in OMT” award given jointly with the Responsible Research in Business and Management network (RRBM). The award is given to a paper that offers both credible and useful knowledge that can potentially advance business practices toward a better society.  The paper must be authored by at least one member of the OMT Division and submitted for the OMT refereed scholarly program. Selection will be based on the extent to which the paper exemplifies the seven principles of responsible research.

Let me also take this opportunity to thank all the sponsors who have provided the financial support that makes so many of our division activities possible. You can find out more about them here, including information on the research and paper development workshops they sponsored.

Now, here are the updates on everything that happened in Boston at the Annual Meeting this summer:

• Program Chair Renate Meyer reports on the outstanding program she assembled
• PDW Chair Martin Kilduff provides his on pre-conference program, including all of our PDWs & Consortia
• Joel Gehman and Olenka Kacperczyk provide an update on the successful Junior Faculty Consortium
• Lisa Cohen and Michael Smets do the same for our Doctoral Consortium
• Membership Committee Chair Emily Block shares an overview of our innovative and very successful off-program events, including our OMT Cafes, OMT Drinks, OMT Yoga, the New and Returning Member Networking & Research Forum, and much more
• Our Research Committee Chair Mary-Hunter McDonnell highlights all of the award winners for 2019
• Our Past OMT Chair Davide Ravasi reports on our 17^th annual Dissertation Proposal Workshop
• Our Global Reps Sun Hyun Park and Dalhia Mani review our 2^nd annual PDW on Doing Research Around the World
• Our Communications Committee Chair Hovig Tchalian has been overhauling much of how we reach out to you, our members, and you can find his report here
• Likewise, our Social Media Coordinator Deborah Anderson has been tirelessly building our online presence. More on that here
• Special thanks once again to Linda Argote for chairing the OMT Best Published Paper committee, which is composed of 18 distinguished OMT members who selected Paul Leonardi as the winner of the award for the OMT Best Paper Published in 2018. You can read the paper here.
• Further, let me especially congratulate our 2019 OMT Distinguished Scholar, Lynne Zucker, and our 2019 OMT Distinguished Educator, Andy Van de Ven. Both are inspiring scholars, and it was terrific to see how the OMT community honored them in Boston. You can find the slides for Lynne’s talk here

As every year, it is also time to say farewell to some of our officers and welcome others:

• Marc-David Seidel completed his five years in the executive leadership position of the division. He has been an inspiration by tirelessly and innovatively reshaping much of what OMT does. Thank you, Marc-David! At the same time, Eva Boxenbaum joins us as the new Division Program Chair-Elect, starting the first of her five-year term.
• Joe-Ellen Pozner, Tal Simons, and Sun Hyun Park stepped down from their terms as Division Representatives-at-Large. They are succeeded by Marya Besharov, Santi Furnari, and Pablo Martin de Holan, whom you elected this spring.
• A special thanks to Davide Ravasi, who moved on to the role of Past Division Chair. He has very much embodied the ideals of the OMT Division in his inclusive approach and his commitment to truly making OMT the Place to Be for everyone. In line with this, Davide announced the “OMT Safe” campaign at the Business meeting in Boston to raise awareness of sexual harassment in our discipline and at our conferences. All of us at OMT will continue to work on the campaign and make it clear that sexual harassment has no place in our Division or anywhere in the Academy.

This is the fall newsletter, which of course is a reminder that it is time to start preparing for the 2020 meeting in Vancouver. Here are a few things to do:

• Sign-up to review for OMT! We need you more than ever… The reviewer system will open later this October, so please sign up. This is YOUR division and Program Chair Martin Kilduff cannot make it happen without your help.
• Thinking of organizing a PDW? Contact PDW Chair Eva Boxenbaum.
• Send your papers and symposium proposals to OMT!

To conclude, I’d like to thank you all for being part of our community and for continuing to make OMT The Place to Be!

Best wishes,

Peer Fiss

OMT Division Chair