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by Dr Renée Ralph, Co-Founder, The Brilliant Foundation
CHICAGO, Illinois, United States of America (USA) – The 84th Academy of Management (AOM) 2024 attracted over 12,000 global participants flooding downtown Chicago with an impressive 2,500 workshops held from 9 -13 August.
Chicago welcomed newbies, Masters, Phd students and academics staying in AOM’s partnership with Hyatt Regency, Sheraton, Fairmont, Swiss hotel, Downtown Marriot Chicago. The economic effect flowed over to other sought-after venues such as Loews, House of Blues, Howl by the Moon and Theory hosted by various international universities to collaborate and rekindle old and new connections with presenters, exhibitors, sponsors, participants and academics. For the past week, AOM delegates walked up and down the streets attending sessions from one venue to another wearing AOM tags around their necks as a signal to other delegates to reach out to each other. The locals were welcoming with their smiles and prompt service assisting delegates in need.
The Professional Development Workshop (PWD) titled “Transitioning from a Faculty to an Administrator Role” was led by Jim Jawahar, Professor and Chair, Department of Management, University of New Mexico (USA); Professor Steve Barr Department of Management, Innovation & Entrepreneurship, Poole College of Management, North Carolina State University, USA; and Professor Julia Richardson, Head of School of Management and Marketing, Faculty of Law and Business, Curtin University, Perth, Western Australia.
Left to Right : Professor Jim Jawahar, Professor Julia Richardson and Professor Steve Barr
Participants were engaged and each very much looking forward to their own leadership careers. According to Professor Julia Richardson, leadership in academia can be challenging and highly rewarding. The PWD discussed the art of effective recruitment, ensuring a positive culture, supporting colleagues and committing to transparency and equity in decision making.
Professor Jim Jawahar was with Illinois State University for over 25 years and had various roles of responsibilities such as Associate Provost before commencing his new role as Professor and Chair at University of New Mexico in 2023.
Jim shared that the education landscape has significantly changed over the years in relation to the increase of counselling student services required to support students. The other underlying factor is students are not ready for college or higher education.
Universities that gain credible reputation and brand enhancement rely on graduation rates as one of the key factors. Some cohorts have a graduation rate of 50%, however, looking at the completion rates, it is taking some students 6 years to finish instead of 4 years due to competing challenges such as rent, student fees and living expenses. He highlighted that females graduate rates are higher than males.
In terms of diversity and inclusion, when recruiting students from different cultures, administrators have to be mindful to ensure groups of students from various ethnic backgrounds to help nurture a sense of belonging and cultural security on their first day at university.
Steve Barr, Professor of Technology Management in the Department of Management Innovation and Entrepreneurship, received the Outstanding Teacher Award and was inducted into North Carolina State’s Academy of Outstanding Teachers. He also received the Alumni Association Distinguished Graduate Professorship award.
Steve shared that key challenges as a leader is to continue building collegiality and trust between faculty in your department. There is a shift in mindset from the “We versus Me” mentality. It is vital to provide leadership by formulating strategy, presenting the preferred option by department, managing the process and not the outcome.
Steve said “The value of teaching is important, it is the value add that creates trust and relationship between the teacher and students within a university environment that builds a community. As for research and journal publications, universities live in a bubble that research is the only critical element, however, the reality is students and the public do not really care. Students do care about the teaching that their lecturer and tutor provide. Students do remember their time at university and the quality of teaching given.”
"As a leader, you will have to know your competition well. What is your concentration? For my faculty, it is Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Marketing and Data Analytics, Technology and Commercialisation."
"There's a decrease of student enrolments, I see the new need of certificates versus MBA, it is the way of the future where students focus in the areas of the required skill. How will universities change and navigate in the future in offering courses?"
In this leadership role, Steve states that the job can consume oneself. He has learnt over the years, to segregate working days for consultation and accessibility with his colleagues. He said that it is important to ask for help when needed to make better decisions for and with his department. It is also good to get a mentor, one or two to guide or provide a listening ear. More importantly, Steve said:”Be creative, do something different with your role, work for some flexibility for your team. Also, be a fair and transparent leader in your decision making processes. That is how you build trust in your team.”
Professor Julia Richardson is the Head of School of Management and Marketing (SoMM), Faculty of Law and Business, Curtin University. Curtin University has a community of 50,000 students with global campuses in Singapore, Dubai, Mauritius, Miri Sawarak and Sri Lanka.
Julia is internationally recognised expert in Careers and Human Resources Management. A former chair of the Careers Division of the Academy of Management, she has enjoyed a global career in the private and public sectors in the UK, Singapore, Japan, Indonesia, New Zealand and Canada and has won multiple awards for her research and teaching.
Professor Julia Richardson shared that when she was first approached to be the Deputy Head of School, she declined the role as she was interested in teaching and research. After much persuasion, she agreed to be the Deputy Head. However, shortly after, the Head of School left, she was asked to become the Head of School and she was in angst whether to go for it or not.
In retrospect, Julia said: “It’s the best thing that happened to me in spite of my hesitation. I absolutely love my job, I really do and I will encourage anyone to go for it. Admittedly, the first two years were the hardest. Ask for help when you need and give help when you can.”
Julia is in her sixth year as Head of School and having built a collegial network of colleagues, she is able to reach out to her peers by picking up the phone or catching up with them face-to-face.
“Talk to other heads of schools as they are also going through similar challenges. Be fair and transparent in your communication. Do not be a bystander, do something and make a collective decision. Build trust with your peers, respect is earned, not given.”
AOM 2024 was an opportunity for Professor Julia Richardson’s to catch up with her former doctoral student Galina Boiarintseva Ph.D. and it was rewarding to see her creating her own leadership journey. (Pictured above)
Julia stated: “Whereas my own leadership journey has included many personal and professional challenges it has afforded me an opportunity to grow and learn. I encourage others to consider a leadership role.”
Chicago City at night, morning, sunset
Chicago’s Michigan Avenue street lamps were lined with blue and white coloured AOM Flags with bold letters “WE’RE GLAD YOUR’RE HERE!”
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