Management, Spirituality and Religion Division (MSR)

Professional Development Workshop (PDW) Call for Submissions

Chair: Payal Kumar, Indian School of Hospitality, India

• Submission Center Opens: Early December 2024
• Submission Deadline: Tuesday, 7 January 2025 at 17:00 ET (UTC-5/GMT-5)
• PDWs will take place Friday, 25 July through Sunday, 27 July 2025

The Management, Spirituality and Religion (MSR) Interest Group cordially invites you to submit a Professional Development Workshop (PDW) proposal for the 85th Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management (AOM 2025) to be held in person from 24-29 July 2025 in Copenhagen, Denmark. As a global community, MSR affirms its commitment to the continual process of becoming conscious of, and then working to dismantle, structures of oppression in the spaces of our work and practice. This includes spaces of teaching, research, and service. It also includes the processes and practices related to academic research conferences, including this MSR PDW proposal process. 

• 1: PDWs are intended to be developmental—they are investments in deepening our scholarly practices (e.g., research, writing, teaching, etc.) while remaining conscious of alternative ontologies, epistemologies, and ways of being and relating in the world.
• 2 & 3: PDWs offer space for creativity and for experience as one way to move out of the domain of intellect and cognition, and to recognize and value the knowing that occurs through movement, art, music, etc.
• 4 & 5: PDWs are often spaces for community building and scholarly activism. Cross-generational, cross-national, and cross-AOM division relationships can be forged in PDWs through careful planning and mindful attention in PDW design. Consciousness of structures of oppression and how they manifest around the world can catalyze scholarly activism, emancipatory pedagogies, and transformational research methods based on, for example, indigenous ways of knowing or non-Western logics.

This year MSR Division's theme is centered on the development of Higher Consciousness - a timely and significant topic. We seek contributions that examine higher consciousness in leadership, decision-making, organizational culture, and well-being. How can it help leaders navigate today’s complexities and turbulence? What insights from spirituality, philosophy, and psychology can transform business and society? Topics such as:

• Consciousness in leadership and decision-making
• Spiritual practices and organizational transformation
• Well-being, mindfulness, and ethics in business
• Cross-cultural perspectives on spirituality
• Artificial Intelligence and development of consciousness

• A title and AOM assigned submission number (in the proposal and in the file name).
• A primary sponsor and other potential sponsors. 
• An abstract of up to 250 words. 
• A 3-5 page workshop overview. 
• A case for why the PDW would be of interest to MSR and potential co-sponsors. 
• A description of the chosen format for delivery. 
• An attendance commitment. Upon acceptance, at least one author or participant must commit to attending the conference. An explicit written statement of commitment is required (e-mail is acceptable). 
• Key words capturing the most important aspects of your proposed session PDW. 
• Missing any of these items means proposals will not be reviewed or evaluated for acceptance. 

• PDWs proposals must be for a minimum of 1 hour in duration.
• The PDW Chair has the ability to decrease the duration of any submitted Professional Development Workshop if he/she feels it would better serve the Interest Group’s member experience. The minimum amount of time a PDW can be reduced to is 1 hour. 
• The "rule of three" applies: individuals may submit, appear in, or be associated with up to three PDWs. 

Final Notes

• Submitters do not need to be members to submit a proposal to the Annual Meeting.
• However, if a proposal is accepted, participants must register to attend the Annual Meeting.