DARE TO CARE: PASSION AND COMPASSION IN MANAGEMENT PRACTICE AND RESEARCH

Following the successful innovation of this year’s conference, the 2010 All-Academy PDWs and Symposia will be combined into the All-Academy Theme Sessions.  These sessions will address issues of broad interest to all members of the Academy and are directly related to the conference theme, “Dare to Care.” They will all run on Sunday.

Let’s learn interactively from one another and challenge ourselves to approach the work we do—as researchers, theorists, teachers, and practitioners—in different ways. The aim is to infuse the conference with passion for our work—the very theme of this year’s conference.

To realize this aspiration, we are actively seeking ways of running workshops and symposia that spark learning and creativity. Workshops and symposia should be developmental, and we are especially excited by sessions that aim to foster participants’ development in non-traditional ways. We actively encourage different formats for workshops and symposia (e.g., offsite activities and adventures, experiential exercises, different forms of media, roundtable discussions, open conversations, debates).

Recall all those conversations you’ve had with colleagues about “what if the Academy were. . . .” Just as a careful, probing eye and ironic detachment are central to the academic’s toolkit, so is practical idealism. Therefore, Sunday offers you the opportunity to be the change you envision.

Want to make a difference in how we conceive academy sessions? Want to infuse your own work and others’ with abiding passion? Want to advance our understanding of passion and compassion in management practice? Sunday is your day.

There are two broad focal points for Sunday’s workshops and symposia in Montreal. First, how do those we study—for example, managers, organizations, workers, investors, and business more broadly—foster and express passion and compassion? How are passion and compassion inhibited and impeded? Second, turning the lens on our own work and on the institutions within which it gets done, how are passion and compassion unleashed, and tethered, in the work we do?  In particular, we actively seek content that dares to care about the future of how we do our work.  Looking to the future, how will—and might—we teach about business and management to MBA students, undergraduates, and executives; publish and disseminate our work; and educate and socialize the next generation of scholars?

Let’s take the opportunity we have at this moment in history to think deeply and constructively about how we might approach the work we do. Let’s think about those we serve—from fellow scholars, to managers, students, employees, investors, and citizens—and understand the place of passion, care, and compassion in organizations and the economy.

If you have ideas for an All-Academy PDW or Symposium, please feel free to share them with me in writing ( This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it ) as soon as possible and no later than December 15, 2009.

With thanks,
Joshua Margolis