Goal 2: Providing Indispensable Value

DRIVING GOAL 1     /      DRIVING GOAL 2     /      DRIVING GOAL 3     /      DRIVING GOAL 4

Goal Two Details: Membership | Division and Interest Groups | Connect@AOM | Career Services

AOM is providing to a diverse membership indispensable value characterized by extensive professional services, vibrant volunteerism, interactive communities, and reimagined governance.

What does that mean for our volunteers and member communities?

This year has emphasized organizational assessment and strategic planning, with various activity representing AOM effort to enhance value proposition and better serve members in a rapidly changing world. Leveraging invaluable feedback from members and volunteers, key themes and recurring patterns were identified. From these, AOM's Board of Governors developed six strategic priorities: Raise & Reimagine Membership, Define & Strengthen the Value Proposition, Fuel Division Innovation & Support, Reinvent Meetings for Hybrid, Virtual and In-Person Experiences, Propel Technology for the 21st Century, and Solidify Operational Sustainability.

As we look ahead to 2022, our goal is to understand what our global members value and how we can better serve members at each stage of their professional lifecycle.

Membership

AOM’s membership ecosystem faced challenges due to continued COVID impacts and the absence of an in-person meeting in 2021. Member retention, critical to organizational health, was a core priority. AOM leaders sought to rebuild membership with a multi-pronged approach to connect and engage with current members and invite former members back to our community. Membership increased by 5% in the second half of the year, resulting in a more globally diverse and resilient community. 

Division and Interest Groups

Members benefit from involvement in the Academy’s 26 Divisions and Interest Groups (DIGs). DIGs provide disciplinary “home bases” where members connect and collaborate around specific management domains. These active communities offer a broad range of services tailored to members with interests in a specific management discipline. In 2021, the Communication, Digital Technology and Organization Division (CTO) formally transitioned its name from the Organizational Communication & Information Systems (OCIS) Division following a member vote approving the change and the AOM Board of Governor’s confirmation.

Division & Interest Group Reviews

Every five years, the Academy’s Divisions and Interest Groups are reviewed by a group of DIG leaders and members of the Board serving on the Division and Interest Group Relations Committee. In 2021, the following five divisions were reviewed. Click on each division for their 5-Year Review Reports.

DIG & AOM Board Leadership Forum

In 2021, Division and Interest Group leaders and members of the Board of Governors convened together to discuss the AOM’s six strategic priorities for advancing our strategic direction. The realities of the global pandemic that all AOM members experienced over the past 12 months, both as volunteer leaders and as academics, were a focal point of discussions. In addition, the Board enlisted DIG Leaders to share their views regarding the implications of a changing environment on the profession and the AOM as an association to help shape the AOM’s future. 

The Board of Governors shared important perspectives that are being used to take stock of the environmental landscape in light of global events and leveraging to help shape the AOM’s future priorities. This collection of six priorities is a preview of the Board’s framework for developing a limited set of meaningful and measurable goals that will be the focus for advancing our strategic direction and a source of continued dialogue over the next 1-3 years.

Connect@AOM

Throughout the course of 2021, members shared their experience and expertise on Connect@AOM by engaging in over 12,000 discussion threads and sharing more than 2,200 uploaded files and resources across our many communities. Check out some of our most active conversations:

• Social Entrepreneurship Course Design
• What are your recommendations for journals outside the management discipline for staying current on environmental sustainability, climate change?
• Founder's Idea - Collections as the Basis for Categorization
• Course design: Digital Entrepreneurship
• Organizational stress and organizational neuroscience
  
  

Career Services

In 2021, AOM members participated in two Virtual Career Fairs -- the Spring Virtual Career Fair and the 2021 Annual Meeting Virtual Career Fair. The Career Services' Professional Development Workshop hosted a record number of participants at AOM2021. Career Coaching saw year-round engagement and the Career Services Coaching team held numerous coaching sessions with several still in progress heading into 2022.

2021 saw 901 official job openings posted by 390 unique employers and ad agencies, up from 620 in 2020. An average of 173 active listings were posted each month.

Career Center at the Annual Meeting