Strategic Management Division (STR)

Call for Professional Development Workshops (PDWs)

PDW Chair: Nan Jia, University of Southern California

The Strategic Management (STR) Division invites submissions for Professional Development Workshop (PDW) sessions for the 2025 Academy of Management Conference in Copenhagen, Denmark. PDW’s will take place between Friday, 25 July and Sunday, 27 July 2025. The goal of the Academy of Management’s PDW program is to enhance the professional development of its members. The goal of the STR PDW program is to provide members with experiences or skills that enhance knowledge creation or dissemination activities in the field of strategic management. Potential PDW topics aligned with these goals include those that advance the research or teaching of strategic management as well as those that better link our work to the practice of strategic management.

The PDWs offer opportunities to experiment with new session formats and topics that might not fit easily within the confines of the regular conference sessions. For instance, PDW session formats might include roundtable discussions, theoretical or research methods workshops, town hall meetings, debates, exercises and ‘games’ involving participants, technology demonstrations, breakout group sessions, research incubators, and meetings with relevant non-academic speakers. PDW topics appropriate for the STR division include discussions regarding the unique problems or solution approaches addressed in the field of strategic management, the relevant theoretical or methodological approaches to enhance research in the field, the pedagogical tools and methods most appropriate to improve teaching in the field, efforts to better align research and practice in the field, or efforts to improve outreach and fundraising opportunities within the field. Sessions with standard paper presentations are more appropriate for traditional symposia.

As PDWs are intended for professional development, proposals should explain how their session will foster interaction and personal development among participants, as well as the audience they will aim to attract.

PDW proposals that are of interest to other divisions besides the STR Division are encouraged, although this is not a requirement for acceptance. Please indicate in the submission document what divisions and interest groups may be suitable to be invited by the Assistant Program Chair as potential co-sponsors.

PDW proposals may be submitted online at the Submission Center beginning early December 2024. Early submissions are encouraged. The submission deadline is Tuesday, 7 January 2025 at 17:00 ET (GMT-5/UTC-5). All named PDW participants must commit to participation in advance. All proposals require a statement indicating that all named participants have consented to participate in the PDW. The AOM’s “Rule of Three” for the PDW program is that “no one may submit or be associated with more than 3 PDW submissions; or appear in more than 3 PDW sessions during the conference.”

Please contact Nan Jia, PDW Chair for general inquiries and informal discussions about ideas for STR PDW sessions.