Five Year Report

Dear OB Division Members The Academy of Management Board has renewed the OB Division for another five years! Below is an executive summary of the 5-year report submitted by the OB Division.

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Executive Summary of the 5-year report


Division Metrics

The OB Division continues to be the largest division within the Academy of Management with 6255 members as of the 1st July 2014. Our membership has remained stable in the last five years with a 1.5% increase (compared to a decrease of -0.5% for AOM). The main change to the composition of our membership is the relative increase in international members from 38% to 42% of overall membership.

Health Checklist
Based on a review, the strengths of the Division are: strength in size and diversity, high quality program and workshops, committed volunteers and membership that seeks more involvement and a strong resource base for investing in the future. The areas for improvement are: membership, governance and program and activities.

Key progress following the 2009 Review
We review the progress made in the goals identified by the prior strategic review:
  1. Continue to build a sense of community
  2. Increase identification and involvement of members
  3. Create greater linkages to our international members
  4. Improve a sense of inclusiveness of different member types
  5. Further bridge the gap between research and practice.
Strengths of the OB Division (What members say they like) The primary themes are as follows (in order of frequency of comments):
  1. Perceptions of a strong sense of community and good opportunities for networking
  2. Quality of the OB program at Academy Meeting
  3. Relevance of topics and caliber of research
  4. Opportunity to stay informed of the latest research in the field of OB
  5. Perceptions that the OB Listserv is very informative and helpful.
Opportunities for development (What members say could be improved) The primary themes identified are as follows:
  1. Size limiting sense of community
  2. Difficulty in navigating to get involved
  3. OB Program at Annual Meeting
  4. U.S Centric Division
  5. Inclusion Barriers.
Looking forward from 2014 – Priorities for 2015-2019 The following are the priorities for the Division:
  1. Enhance Community
    • web based technologies, support micro-communities, continue to develop & maintain linkages with international members, inclusiveness of different member types
  2. Enhance Professional Engagement
    • program enhancements, strengthening science-practice, increase networking opportunities
  3. Enhance the Structure and Operation of Division Committees
    • Involvement coordinator role, communications role, expanding number of Representatives at Large, Program team to assist submissions to Academy Conference and creation of student committee

5-year Survey of Members

The survey conducted of current members provided valuable input to the report, and has been summarized in this report. A sample of the survey findings reveal:
  • 50% of respondents consider the OB Division to be their primary division
Satisfaction with services and Division:
  • 3% of respondents are not satisfied with membership of the OB Division
  • 70% or respondents were satisfied (or higher) with activities that address the Division’s domain
Community, identification and involvement in the OB Division:
  • 29% of respondents were not satisfied or only somewhat satisfied with the sense of community within the division
  • 53% agreed or strongly agreed to the statement “I strongly identify with the OB Division’s mission”
  • 61% agreed or strongly agreed that the OB Division provides good opportunities to get involved
  • 59% responded yes to the question “I wish I were more involved in the OB Division”
Academy Meeting and OB program
  • 73% of respondents agreed that “generally speaking, the OB Division’s overall program at the Academy meeting is interesting and useful to me”
  • 69% of respondents have never volunteered in any capacity
  • 27% of respondents agreed or strongly agreed that the OB Division needs a more diverse set of formats and 25% of respondents disagreed or strongly agreed.
  • 42% reported satisfaction with the plenary session and 49% of respondents were of the view that a debate on a timely topic would make better use of the plenary
International focus
  • 4% of respondents were not satisfied with the Division’s efforts to reach out to international members (64% were satisfied or higher)
  • 37% of respondents felt that the OB Division needs to include more of an international focus on the Academy program (20% strongly disagreed or disagreed and 43% were neutral)

Inclusiveness Report

The AOM Diversity and Inclusion Theme Committee submitted a State of Inclusion in the Academy report based on a survey of inclusion conducted in March 2013. 1077 Academy members responded to the survey of which 136 respondents were from the OB Division.