PDWs are distinct from scholarly programs in their personal and professional skill orientation.  In addition to the long standing tradition of doctoral student consortia and junior faculty workshops, PDWs have included tutorials, panels, debates, round table discussions, and even off-site visits to companies.  As long as an event brings learning value to the participants in terms of skill enhancement related to their professional activities, the sky is the limit.  The theme of the 2009 meeting, Green Management Matters, should offer interesting opportunities to propose creative explorations of green concepts in teaching, research, and professional practices.

As part of the new conference design (Friday morning through Tuesday), PDWs will span two full days, 8 am to 8 pm Friday and Saturday.  You have the flexibility to design a PDW for any length of time (in two-hour blocks), ranging from two hours to 12 hours (or more).  During these two days, divisional, inter-divisional, interest group and theme committee PDWs will be presented.  Sunday will be devoted to the All Academy Theme PDWs.  Please visit the PDW website for detailed information on PDW policies and rules, submission guidelines and processes.  The PDW resources page [link] has suggestions and ideas on creating and managing a good professional development workshop as well as samples of past PDW proposals that have resulted in successful experiences for participants.  

Successful PDWs have many common features, but the most important of these is captured by the word “interactive”.  Skills are better enhanced through active engagement in discussion or experiential activities rather than passive listening.  I would suggest that you develop a schedule with 30 minute time segments.  If you find your proposal involves speakers talking more than 30 minutes each time or more than 50% of the time of the session, please seriously consider changing the design.  I invite you to read the paper “A Guide to Good PDWs” for excellent ideas on developing interactive and developmental PDWs.  Be creative, think outside the box, and experiment with new ideas. If you are not sure of an idea, contact your division PDW chair for informal feedback. Do this early and don’t wait till the last minute. The division PDW chair is available for consultation until December 15, 2008. The submission deadline for PDW proposals is January 15, 2009.  You may indicate as many co sponsor divisions as desirable for your proposal but you submit it to only one division.  

In addition to division-specific PDWs, we encourage proposals that draw interest from members of multiple divisions.  PDWs offer an excellent opportunity to move outside the boundary of a single division to explore issues and ideas across divisions.  Try to involve the theme committees, such as international, practice, mentoring and teaching.  Engage international members as presenters or leaders of the workshops.  PDWs are excellent opportunities to learn about research and teaching practices in other countries and to develop potential collaborative projects.  PDWs can be a vehicle to bridge research and practice by engaging practitioners and scholars in dialogues on their mutual challenges and aspirations. While the scholarly program is a structured presentation of research results and scholarly ideas, PDWs are relatively informally structured activities that can offer serious learning in a fun and relaxed atmosphere.  Start planning your PDW now and let Chicago in 2009 serve as a fertile ground for creative opportunities to meet the professional development needs of Academy members. See you in Green Chicago.    

Anne S. Tsui
Arizona State University
2009 Academy of Management Meeting
Chair, Professional Development Workshops