Academy of Management

The Academy of Management, founded in 1936, is the largest professional organization for management scholars and teachers in the world. With nearly 15,000 members in 2005, the Academy has members from 90 different countries, is headquartered in the United States, and is governed by its members. Membership consists of scholars at colleges, universities, and research institutions, who create and disseminate knowledge about organizations and management, and some practicing managers with scholarly interests from business, government, and nonprofit organizations.

The Academy has a mission to enhance the practice of management through scholarship and also to advance the professional development of its members. It accomplishes these ends through a variety of scholarly means. It holds an annual conference that draws together the world's leading management scholars to share their research and also includes professional development activities. The Academy publishes four peer-reviewed scholarly journals: Academy of Management Journal, Academy of Management Review, Academy of Management Executive, and Academy of Management Learning and Education. The Academy publishes a newsletter, brings out a Best Paper Proceedings CD based on the annual meeting, and provides its members online access to articles published in its journals. It services members through online list servers, job placement at the annual meeting, and awards for research, scholarship, teaching, and service.

Structured into 21 divisions and interest groups, the Academy focuses on a broad range of scholarly issues facing managers today as highlighted by division names. Divisions in 2005 reflect the breadth of interests among members: Business Policy and Strategy, Careers, Conflict Management, Critical Management Studies (interest group), Entrepreneurship, Gender and Diversity in Organizations, Health Care Management, Human Resources, International Management, Management Consulting, Management Education and Development, Management History, Management Spirituality and Religion (interest group), Managerial and Organizational Cognition, Operations Management, Organizations and Management Theory, Organizational Behavior, Organizational Communication and Information Systems, Organizational Development and Change, Organizations and the Natural Environment (interest group), Public and Nonprofit, Research Methods, Social Issues in Management, and Technology and Innovation Management.

Topical coverage in the Academy's journals and conferences reflects a similar broad range of interests. Much of the scholarly work on business and management ethics and the role of business in society can be found under the umbrella of the Social Issues in Management division; critical scholarship is found within the Critical Management Studies interest group. Numerous other divisions also reflect scholarship with an ethical, ecological, diversity, public interest, meaning-making, social issues, or leadership orientation as well.

The Social Issues in Management division domain includes the following: social environment, including corporate social responsibility, corporate philanthropy, stakeholder management, corporate social performance; the ethical environment, including codes of ethics, corporate crime, individual and organizational ethical behavior, ethical implications of technology, personal values, and corporate culture; the public policy environment, including political action committees, legal and regulatory areas; the ecological environment, including environmental management and ecological issues; stakeholder environment, including impact of technology, workplace diversity, corporate governance, public affairs management; and the international environment, including topics mentioned above, plus how the nation-state system affects international organizations.