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MANAGEMENT, SPIRITUALITY AND RELIGION (MSR) 

Program Chair: Michael Pirson, Fordham University; MSR@fordham.edu 

2017 MSR Division Scholarly Program: Call for Submissions

The Management, Spirituality and Religion (MSR) Interest Group invites you, with much enthusiasm, to submit papers and symposia within the scope of its domain statement for the Scholarly Program of the 2017 Academy of Management meeting in Atlanta.

Specific Domain:

MSR explores how spirituality and religion can influence organizational dynamics and affect management outcomes. In that regard, MSR is devoted to defining the relevance and impact of spirituality and religion in management, organizations and society. Major areas of study include theory building and empirical research around the issues of faith, spirituality and religion as they influence principles and practices in management. Important contributions have been made in MSR research to better understand the meaning of work, the impact of spirituality and spiritual leadership in the workplace, the purpose of business, the effects of religious pluralism in the workplace, and the distinctive elements of individual religious and spiritual beliefs that cultivate inner awareness and promote wisdom for the common good.

MSR connects hundreds of management scholars, practitioners, doctoral students, organizational leaders, and faculty across the globe in collaborating on leading edge research, publications, dialogue, and practices around the nature, role, and influence of spirituality and religion in management and organizations. Whether you are a doctoral student - just beginning your career, a seasoned scholar, a scholar-practitioner, a theologian, a spiritual leader, an interfaith organizer, a business professional, or simply anyone interested spirituality, religion, and management, please consider responding to this call for submissions.

 Special Instructions:

We encourage papers and symposia that deal with the interface of management, spirituality and religion. These topics can relate directly to the theme of this year's conference, At the Interface or not.  In her discussion of the theme the 2017 AOM Program Chair, Carol T. Kulik says:

At the Interface is an invitation to reflect on the many ways that interfaces separate and connect people and organizations – and to consider the consequences of those separations and interconnections.

With an increasingly global society, diverse spiritual and religious beliefs, practices and cultures are interfacing and we are learning to work together to improve and transform practices within organizations and societies. The global trends and the opportunities and challenges to make organizations meaningful have clear implications for our MSR research, practice, and teaching.

The special MSR perspectives and role in the Academy invite us to share research, theory, and ideas about how our deepest spiritual and religious values, perspectives, and practices can contribute to transforming ourselves and others, empowering our contributions to making both organizations and whole societies more meaningful. And, of course, how failure to align those values and perspectives damages our possibilities to contribute to developing deeper values and higher purposes for self, others, organizations, societies, and the global community.

From this angle, MSR members can make special contributions by exploring how interfaces and interfaith interactions at any level are relevant for management research. The below areas have been of particular interest and value to MSR members in the past but are in no way meant to be exhaustive:

• interfaith  and meaning
• 
  
• sustainability and spirituality
• 
  
• spiritual traditions and entrepreneurship
• 
  
• humanistic management
• 
  
• research methodologies for MSR
• 
  
• transformative teaching

etc.

We encourage proposals with creative and alternative ways of presenting research to connect with a wider audience, such as storytelling, artistic and creative projects, as well as new ideas for our research process (how we collect and analyze data) - how we gather information on ways of knowing, how we be with this information and ways of knowing and how we re-present information and ways of knowing.

A New Symposium Format for MSR: Instructional Symposium (or "How to" Symposium). In response to the great interest of the MSR research workshops, we have decided to introduce a new type of symposium into the regular conference program: Instructional Symposium. Instructional Symposia should involve multiple presentations from multiple contributors, with the goal of teaching attendees how to use a particular research technique.

** If you wish to submit an instructional symposium, then simply make sure that the title of your symposium begins with the words, "How to ...". For example, the symposium could be entitled, "How to do MSR Qualitative Research" or "How to Conduct Mixed Methods Research on MSR topics."

Session Formats:

A special note on your submission(s) and the processes of the 2017 Annual scholarly program:  This year the Academy is eager to continue to increase its efforts to make the scholarly program a vital, exciting, and increasingly interactive adventure for all of us.  To support this goal, please consider how your submission can be more lively and interactive than a mere reading of your paper followed by a discussant's commentary on it.  In your submission, please feel most welcome to add a commentary about how your paper or symposium, if accepted, can be a lively affair for the audience.... and for you.

We are very interested in hearing from members who are creators of art and photographs, writers of drama/short story/poetry/spoken word, documentary film makers or composers of music of all kinds, all in keeping with an MSR ethos. If this is you, please contact me as soon as possible, as we are interested in experimenting with such creative possibilities as part of the program. 

All in all, the MSR Program presents opportunities to engage holistically, relationally, creatively, spiritually, developmentally, interactively, inclusively, and provocatively with topics/concerns of interest to our members; scholars, teachers, practitioners, students, and to members of other divisions (offering possibilities for co-sponsorship).

Submission Process:

The standard alerting to the need to "follow the rules:" Please review carefully (and follow very, very carefully) the guidelines for submissions on the AOM website.

Submission Requirements and Formatting. A paper is defined as a fully developed manuscript on a scholarly topic. Please follow the guidelines at the AOM submission site to ensure your work is reviewed. Papers and symposia that are not prepared according to formatting instructions can NOT be reviewed.

·The Submission System Opens: Tuesday, November 15, 2016

·The Submission System Closes: Tuesday, January 10, 2017 at 5pm ET (NY Time)

·The Scholarly Program:  August 6/7/8, 2017 from 8am-6pm.

So let the fun begin! If I can be of help as a resource or sounding board as you develop ideas for symposia related to the theme please do not hesitate to contact me – Michael Pirson, MSR Program Chair, MSR@fordham.edu

Program Submission Reviewers Process: