By taking part in academic conferences, a researcher has the opportunity to:
- present the results of research work and receive feedback from the academic community
- constructively integrate suggestions and critiques made by academic peers into the final work
- keep up with current developments in a specific research domain by becoming familiar with projects before they have been published
- become an active member of national or international research networks and maintain contacts with other researchers in a specific field of expertise
- meet the editors of the principal academic reviews, who are usually present at conferences and often organize informal get-togethers
- consult and buy books and research publications at considerable price reductions (20 per cent to 50 per cent depending on the editor; prices often drop further towards the end of a conference).
In addition to these general considerations, which could apply to any conference or seminar, the specific characteristics of each individual conference should be considered before submitting a research project to any particular one.
Proposition format Certain conferences require a full scientific article of 20 pages or more presenting the research project (Academy of Management, European Institute for Advanced Studies in Management), while others will accept an abstract of two or three pages (Strategic Management Society, Institute for Operations Research and Management Science, European Group of Organization Studies).
Along with individual propositions, some academic societies (Academy of Management, Strategic Management Society, Institute for Operations Research and Management Science) accept and even encourage group initiatives, taking the form of a symposium presenting four or five research projects treating a single subject or theme. This kind of proposition should contain a two-page general presentation of the symposium, and a two- or three-page abstract for each project. The title page should state the names and affiliations of all writers, and indicate the session chairperson and the participants in each presentation.
Project status Some associations will only admit completed research projects (Academy of Management, European Institute for Advanced Studies in Management), while to others it may be possible to submit on-going work or even didactic cases.
Type of research While it is difficult to generalize, some academic societies do seem to have a preference for research projects that take a quantitative approach (Academy of Management), whereas qualitative methods are more likely to be presented at certain conferences (Strategic Management Society, European Group of Organization Studies). Econometric models are predominant in some organizations (Institute for Operations Research and Management Science). To avoid rejection of a project on the basis of choice of methods, it can be rewarding to consult archives from past conferences. The predominant methodological approach, and any core theories, will quickly stand out among the projects that have been presented, and the current proposition can then be submitted to those organizations more likely to accept it.
Below, some of the major academic conferences in the field of management are presented in further detail.
1. The Academy of Management (AoM)
http://www.aom.pace.edu/
The Academy of Management is an American-based association for researchers in management, with more than 10,000 members world-wide.
The AoM generally organizes an annual conference in the USA at the beginning of August, gathering between 3,000 and 4,000 researchers and PhD students from all over the world. The proportion of contributions from outside the USA and Canada has been constantly increasing over the last ten years, and represents up to 25 per cent in some divisions. In order to further encourage this internationalization, some divisions, such as Technology and Innovation Management, have purposefully established a network of international correspondents.
The conference is held over five days, with the opening weekend reserved for pre-conference activities (including a Doctoral Consortium, a Junior Faculty Consortium, a Teaching Seminar, an All Academy Symposium and a Distinguished Speaker); the actual conference covers the remaining three days.
Some thousand presentations are given in the 15 different AoM divisions (Business Policy and Strategy, Careers, Conflict Management, Entrepreneurship, Health Care Administration, Human Resource Management, Management History, Managerial Consultation, Managerial and Organizational Cognition, Organization and Management Theory, Organizational Communication and Information Systems, Organizations and the Natural Environment, Public and Non-Profit Sector, Research Methods, Social Issues in Management, Technology and Innovation Management).
Each division has its own program, organized according to the propositions that have been submitted directly by authors. Propositions should be transmitted to the Program Chair of the division concerned (postal and e-mail addresses can be found on the AoM web site). In general, the deadline is the Friday of the first complete week of January. Deadlines must be stringently observed – a proposition received Saturday morning will not be considered. Each proposition is examined by two readers, and returned to the author in April, accompanied with the readers’ comments and notification of their acceptance or rejection of the proposition.
Approximately one-third of the propositions submitted are accepted for presentation at the conference, but regardless of the final outcome, all authors will receive a detailed evaluation of their work from the readers, which is itself invaluable in improving the quality of the project. The two or three most interesting articles submitted to each division are published in the Academy of Management Proceedings, as well as abstracts of all the presentations accepted.
A job placement market is set up during the AoM annual conference, bringing together universities and professors from all over the world. A specific page on the AoM web site is also dedicated to placement services.
The AoM publishes the Academy of Management Review, the Academy of Management Journal and the Academy of Management Executive. The registration fee for the conference is a little under US$100.
2. The Strategic Management Society (SMS)
The SMS is an international academic association that holds an annual congress in North America, Asia or Europe. The conference is referred to as ‘ABC’ – Academic, Business, Consultant – and gathers participants from different professional categories, with a majority being researchers.
There are approximately 400 presentations over the three days of the conference. The deadline for submitting propositions is in March, for a conference held in September/October. Propositions should be presented as two- or three- page abstracts outlining the research project, or as joint symposiums similar to those described above for the AoM. The final decision is made by a committee of 15 research experts after examining the abstracts, and is announced in June. About 50 per cent of the propositions are accepted for presentation during the conference.
Every year, SMS selects 20 or so of the presentations given during the conference to be published in book form. The series, published by John Wiley and Sons under title ‘SMS Collection’ is generally co-edited by Howard Thomas and the organizer of the conference.
The registration fee for the conference is approximately US$500. The SMS publishes Strategic Management Journal.
3. The Institute for Operations Research and Management Science (INFORMS)
http://www.informs.org/
INFORMS is the result of a merger in 1995 of the Operations Research Society of America (ORSA) and The Institute of Management Sciences (TIMS). Informs is principally a conference on operations research, statistics and information technology. Nevertheless, several sections are dedicated to management. This conference can be a good opportunity to encounter an academic audience of varying origins. INFORMS is a four-day conference, in which around 1,000 presentations are made.
INFORMS is unique in accepting all presentation propositions submitted to it (propositions are submitted in the form of an abstract). This policy represents an attempt to provide an audience for all types of research projects, regardless of the methodology used or the research question. Organizers often need to use the full resources of their creativity when finding titles for sessions that may group presentations with strong variations in field, method and approach. In an attempt to encourage greater homogeneity within sessions, INFORMS recently decided to accept symposiums.
INFORMS edits Management Science and Organization Science. The registration fee for the conference is approximately US$300.
4. The European Group of Organization Studies (Egos)
EGOS was created in 1973 as an informal research network. It rapidly grew to be the principal European association for researchers in the organizational field, and became an official association in 1997. Although essentially European, quite a number of members are of other nationalities.
The annual conference is held in July in Europe. Abstracts are to be submitted at the beginning of February, to the person responsible for that particular area of research. If accepted, the author must send a copy of the research project to all other researchers whose proposals have been accepted in the same section. At the conference, participants are put into workshops of approximately 30 per group, according to their area of research. This method strongly encourages participants to attend all presentations by members of their group, to develop common references in the course of the conference.
EGOS also organizes doctoral consortiums similar to those held by the Academy of Management during its annual conference.
EGOS edits Organization Studies. The registration fee for the conference is approximately US$150.
5. The European Institute for Advanced Studies in Management (EIASM)
http://www.eiasm.be/
EIASM is a European group that organizes annual or bi-annual symposiums and seminars in different fields of management science. Each event gathers between 30 and 100 research professors specialized in a given domain. These conferences are usually appreciated for their more ‘human’ size, favoring personal contacts and the development of networks. Meetings are generally held in collaboration with other academic associations or universities, in Europe or elsewhere, and are open to non-European researchers.
Research projects presented at EIASM events are generally published in the form of conference proceedings.
The registration fee varies between meetings, averaging approximately US$200.
In addition to these ‘major’ conferences, symposiums on clearly defined subjects are regularly organized by universities and informal groups. At these meetings of varying duration, researchers get together and discuss a common question. Calls for papers are often more ‘confidential’, and may even be replaced by personal invitations. It may seem difficult to find a way into these informal networks, but taking part in bigger conferences normally helps – a researcher may also be invited to give a presentation on the basis of a published article. Such exposure enables the researcher to be recognized by a member of the network as having the potential to add to their discussions.
Source: Thietart Raymond-Alain et al. (2001), Doing Management Research: A Comprehensive Guide, SAGE Publications Ltd; 1 edition.
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