The Strategizing Activities and Practices (SAP) Interest Group invites creative and inclusive proposals for the Professional Development Workshops (PDWs) to be held during the 2024 Academy of Management Annual Meeting.

This year’s theme of ‘Innovating for the Future: Policy, Purpose, and Organizations” is particularly relevant for the SAP Interest Group.  Both the focus on doing (innovating) and temporality (future) are well-trodden areas for SAP scholars and an opportunity to showcase how embracing a practice approach has the potential to yield new insights into all three areas of this year’s theme – policy, purpose, and organizations.

We specifically invite PDW proposals that connect SAP research across other practice-theoretical research streams including entrepreneurship-as-practice and leadership-as-practice.  We also encourage PDW proposals aimed at shifting perspectives on how organizations innovate and future-make.

In addition to the suggested questions on the AOM website, there are several SAP-related questions emerging from the theme.  The below is offered to stimulate creative thought and is by no means complete:

• How does practice enactment shape policy decisions in organizations?
• How do practices support or challenge an organization’s purpose?  How do organizations reconcile these tensions?
• Why and how do innovating practices emerge within and between organizations?  Is the pattern of emergence consistent across different types of organizations or across different parts of the same organization?
• Why and how do practitioners foster a greater sense of organizational purpose?

Please note that PDW sessions may take place any time between Friday, 9 August to Sunday, 11 August, 2024.

We strongly encourage PDWs that appeal to a wide range of audiences and themes beyond the SAP community by building linkages with other Divisions and Interest Groups. Please indicate potential cosponsors in the submission document (e.g., CTO, ENT, OMT, ODC, MC, RM, STR, TIM). The minimum duration of a PDW is 2 hours, but submitters are welcome to request a duration of 1.5 hours if they feel it would better serve the workshop, session flow, and attendee engagement. The 1.5-hour duration request must be documented in the uploaded proposal document itself at the time of submission and the PDW Chair will subsequently reduce the duration to 1.5 hours on the submitter’s behalf.

Please keep an eye on aom.org for updates regarding the submission deadlines.  Financial support for the conference registration fees and travel-related expenses may be provided for a limited number of SAP member-accepted submissions if, due to constraints or circumstances, support to enable conference participation is needed. Submitters are strongly encouraged to discuss potential PDWs with SAP PDW Chair Krista Pettit.

We look forward to receiving your submissions and to crafting a robust and thought-provoking program in Chicago!