Event Details
Teachers, students and practitioners of management, in many parts of the world, today, face a peculiar situation. On one hand, management studies is frequently demonized as a realm of oppressive ideas on how to impoverish the world further. On the other, there is widespread agreement on the necessity for such ideas to make the world we inhabit a slightly better place. In this sense, to be someone interested in using management ideas to generate social justice (whether ecological, economic, racial, sexual, or gender), inhabits a contradiction. But is this really the case? Is it possible to think of management in terms of larger questions of social justice, to create workplaces and organizations in general that are more democratic and inclusive?
This conference is being convened for those interested in critical, and generative approaches to management scholarship, teaching, and practice, based on relevant, topical and invigorating social theories, focused on questions of racial, ecological, economic and gender injustice, and inclusion in workplaces, that involve going beyond the historical agendas of business schools, for-profit corporations, including profit maximization, and managerialist agendas.
The conference is led and will be held by faculty based in the New School. Staying true to the university's critical, unconventional and experimental roots, Management @ the New School is a university-wide, interdisciplinary and inter-sectoral project to improvise, innovate, and generate radical change within and through organizations. As a collective, we are obsessed with questions of how to make the world a more just, equitable, and sustainable place, and the ways such goals require challenging our conventional understandings of organizations and management. We are interested in themes such emancipatory management practices, forms of inclusion in workplaces, intersectional management practices, indigenous knowledge/politics, and ecological activism, and organizations and invite submission.
We invite scholars, educators, practitioners, and students to submit abstracts of papers, proposals for teaching demos/workshops and practice panels, and participate in the conference. Full papers are not necessary for inclusion in the conference. Full papers if accepted will be fast-tracked for review and consideration for publication in the Society for Advancement of Management Journal either in special issues on Social Justice in Management, Inclusion and Equity at the Workplace, or in regular issues depending on thematic fit.
We provide the following questions as illustrative and guiding prompts but not as limits.
- Can management be emancipatory (Alvesson & Willmott, 1994)? Or is the project of management so tied to managerialist notions that we need different terminology to encourage reformed practice? (such as management education being replaced with schools of organizing as suggested by Parker, 2019)? What would be some real-life examples of such credible efforts to resist managerialism, whether from universities, corporations, non-profits, NGOs, social enterprises, urban governments, design labs or anywhere else?
- Can anarchist theories of organizations and management guide us to reimagining the role of management (Stoborod & Swann, 2014; Srinivas, 2018)? Are there historical models of such management that we could reconsider at this time, such as in terms of worker-led organizations, farmer cooperatives, or followership models? In this sense should we move backward to move forward?
- How can management and entrepreneurship be of service in advancing collective well- being of individuals, communities, and societies, and in an inclusive manner (Poonamallee, Scillitoe, & Joy, 2019; Peredo & Chrisman, 2004)? How do we articulate these possibilities, and teach them, so that students and communities feel encouraged to take up such approaches?
- What models of inclusion are relevant (Goosby, 2014) in your own inclusion research and practice?
- Can organizations be vehicles for fostering inclusive and sustainable economies and societies? Is it possible for management theory and practice to imagine ways of disengaging from unending economic growth and ecological destruction (Banerjee, Jermier, Peredo, and Reichel, 2019)? What are alternative economic models demanded by students that help in challenging received knowledge about economic growth and capitalism? As educators how do we straddle the gap between students who need to find jobs to pay student loans and teach them to transgress careers based on existing capitalistic models?
- Can management education advance a radical paradigm shift towards mindful mindsets and connections (Mahalingam, 2014), interdependence-centric mental models (Poonamallee & Goltz, 2014), and emotionally intelligent leadership with a social conscience? Can powerful self-made leaders escape being or becoming mean (Lipton, 2017)? What are our educational approaches to foster reflection and self-criticality about our impact on others at a human level?
- How does intersectionality provide a way to build solidarity (Roberts & Jesudason, 2013)? How do you engage with intersectionality and identity systems to promote voice and engagement of diverse populations in your classroom? How do divided political identities shape workplace politics and implications for career advancement and growth?
- Are there approaches to management unique to indigenous communities, or communities of faith that can help us learn ways to improve management theory and practice? What can we learn about recognizing diversity, fostering inclusion, ensuring accountability, from such settings?
- How can design and design processes help foster a culture of innovation in organizations and the arenas in which they function? What would be a critical intersection between design studies and management theories, that helps to promote questions of inclusion and sustainability?
- Is there a ‘best’ way to harness technology for social impact? Is it even possible in today’s world to solve social and environmental problems without the use of technology and scientific advancement? How do we encourage students to approach technology from a holistic perspective?
- How do new media forms affect formation of work practices, identities, and the general politics? What learning, and teaching strategies do we use to leverage the new media platforms in effective classroom learning and active practice?
- Who do we study as scholars of management and organizations? How do we teach students about the dignity of labor, especially in terms of an invisible workforce such as janitors, contingent labor, ‘low-skilled’ workers, and similar "cogs in the wheel"?
All submissions must be at least 750 words but not more than 1500 words. We invite the following types of submissions:
- Scholarly submissions: We will organize both traditional paper presentations and poster sessions. Closer to date, you will be offered an opportunity to submit full length manuscripts to be considered for fast-tracked review and publication process into Society for Advancement of Management Journal (SAM Journal).
- Proposals for Teaching Demos/Workshops: Must have details about the workshop or demo design; must have an experiential component.
- Practice panels (minimum 1500 words). Practice panels should list panelists who have agreed to participate and attend the conference and their expertise.
We encourage all submissions to consider implications for teaching and practice. Please include a separate title page with names, affiliations, and email contact for all the submitters. Submit via this link: https://forms.gle/jBVuCd67xzHsEaKo9
Important Dates:
Deadline for submission of abstracts: December 1, 2019
Acceptance Notification: Jan 15, 2020
Conference registration: March 15, 2020
Last date to cancel registration with refund: April 15, 2020
Full length manuscript submission deadline (optional): May 1, 2019.
Conference dates: May 20-21, 2019
Email poonamallee@newschool.edu with questions or if you would like to discuss any panel or workshop ideas further.
