All-Academy Theme (AAT) Call for Submissions

All-Academy Theme Chair: Herman Aguinis, The George Washington University School of Business, haguinis@gwu.edu

This year, in my role of Academy of Management (AOM) Vice President & Program Chair, I had the privilege of creating a theme for the 2020 AOM conference in Vancouver. My task was to develop a theme that would be appealing and applicable Academy-wide. The 2020 theme, 20/20: Broadening our Sight, is an invitation to overcome dichotomies that stand in the way of producing actionable knowledge to address pressing challenges for individuals, organizations, society, and our own profession. We often lament that our work is not as influential compared to that of scholars in other fields, such as economics, and that our field is not as relevant and, frankly, as helpful as it could be. But, it is unlikely that we will be able to make impactful contributions if our scholarship and teaching adopt an “or” rather than an “and” approach (e.g., embracing micro or macro theories and research, using qualitative or quantitative methods, focusing on knowledge creation or knowledge dissemination, emphasizing research or teaching, highlighting rigor or relevance). These self-imposed choices restrict our sight and create a narrow and often incomplete view of organizational phenomena. Using the 20/20 vision analogy, which means that we can see things more clearly, the 2020 theme invites members to break down dichotomies and broaden the way we “see” management and organizations and our own profession. To learn more, please review the full summary of the 2020 theme, 20/20: Broadening our Sight.

The Sunday program will spotlight the theme, which may be addressed by a wide range of theories and methods across different levels of analyses and contexts. As such, the All-Academy Theme (AAT) Committee is eager to receive theme-related symposium and PDW submissions that represent the full diversity of our membership's backgrounds, experiences, and ideas. The All-Academy program will be developed from submissions to the AAT Committee as well as submissions nominated by Division and Interest Group Program Chairs. Therefore, members are invited to submit their theme-related symposia and PDWs in one of the following two ways (note: standalone papers cannot be submitted to, or nominated for, the AAT program):

• You may submit a symposium or PDW directly to the AAT program. These submissions will be reviewed and considered for inclusion on the All-Academy program (Sunday, 9 August) by the AAT Committee. This route is recommended if you can convincingly and explicitly link the substance of your proposed symposium or PDW to the theme and explain its likely appeal across various divisions and interest groups. Please note, however, that if you decide to submit a proposal directly to the AAT program and it is rejected, the submission will not be reviewed by a division or interest group.

• You may submit a symposium directly to the division or interest group whose domain statement best captures the substance of your submission. This route is recommended if you have doubt as to whether the substance of your proposed symposium relates to the theme and/or will have appeal across various divisions and interest groups. Please note that if you decide to submit a proposal directly to a division or interest group, it is possible that the submission will be accepted for presentation during the scholarly program (Monday, 10 August-Tuesday, 11 August) or be nominated, accepted, and included on the All-Academy program (Sunday, 9 August).