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From the President
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Bill Gardner, Southern Management Association President. |
SMA is on a roll! Thanks to the outstanding leadership of my predecessors and the dedicated contributions of our officers and members, SMA is thriving. 2006 was a year of many milestones for SMA. Our membership rolls grew from just over 800 members in 2005 to an all time high of 956 active members at the close of 2006; we continue to stand out as the largest of the Academy of Management regional affiliates. Attendance at the 2006 SMA Annual Meeting in Clearwater Beach reached record levels with 425 members. Due in no small part to the exceptional support, guidance, and marketing efforts of Sage Publications and the editorial leadership of Russell Cropanzano, total subscriptions to SMA’s primary asset, the Journal of Management, increased more than 17% in 2006 – along with JOM’s reputation as a top-tier scholarly journal. One benefit of JOM’s incredible success has been a remarkable and steady stream of revenues that has substantially enhanced the financial health of SMA.
Yes, by all indicators, SMA is doing very well indeed. Such success stems, in part, from the leadership and commitment of its officers – I am honored to work with such dedicated people. But, more importantly, our success flows from the collective contributions and active involvement of our membership at large. So, all of you, our members, deserve credit for helping to make SMA what it is today. You’ve created a world-class professional association populated by engaged scholars and practitioners and a spirit of collegiality and friendship – and had a lot of fun along the way. Nice work!
In recognition of the unique opportunities that our good fortune provides to SMA, my immediate predecessor, Anson Seers, asked Peg Williams and Claudia Cogliser to conduct a survey to find out how SMA can better serve its members. Priorities identified by the 437 respondents focused on increasing levels of support for doctoral students, new faculty, and members’ research, teaching, and professional/career development efforts. In essence, we received a mandate to explore new avenues for supporting the research, teaching, and professional activities of SMA members.
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Beach party at the 2006 SMA meeting in Clearwater Beach, FL |
Toward this end, the SMA Officers and Board Members will be holding a strategic planning retreat in Nashville the weekend of February 17-18, 2007. President-Elect Charlotte Sutton has volunteered to serve as the retreat facilitator. Armed with a host of great ideas from survey respondents, we seek to build on SMA traditions of academic excellence, collegiality, and friendship, as we chart a course for continued service to, and by, our members. If you wish to provide additional suggestions in advance of the retreat, please contact Charlotte or me. We welcome your input!
We have received rave reviews about our annual conference held in Clearwater Beach last October, and there are many people to thank. I especially want to thank Charlotte Sutton as the 2006 Program Chair for making the meeting a resounding success. Charlotte put together an outstanding group of track chairs, and they assembled a high quality program that contributed to the record level of attendance. Charlotte and her team wowed us with a fascinating keynote session by Kenny Moore – a former monk and present-day business executive with a unique perspective on building commitment, trust and passion at work – not to mention the Beach Party complete with Beach Blanket Bingo! Special thanks also go to the organizers and presenters of the SMAI (Southern Management Association Institute) pre-conference sessions. Peg Williams and Mark Gavin organized the 17th Annual Doctoral Consortium, which was attended by a record number of 58 enrollees. Thanks to Claudia Cogliser, Lucy Ford, and Terri Scandura for coordinating a Research Methods workshop on survey scale development and validation (and to Russell Cropanzano for filling in as an emergency presenter when Claudia fell ill). I’d also like to thank Hans Hansen, Bob Gephart, and Karen Golden-Biddle for presenting a Research Methods workshop on qualitative methods, and to Kevin Lowe, Lew Brown, Claudia Cogliser, and Nagaraj Sivasubramaniam for organizing a stimulating workshop on teaching excellence. More thanks go to editors Russell Cropanzano and Terri Scandura for conducting the ever-popular JOM Research Development Workshop. And, of course, special thanks go to Gayle Baugh for once again organizing the much anticipated Thursday morning Networking Breakfast, and to Geralyn Franklin, our legendary conference coordinator, for using her wisdom, expertise, and hard work to ensure another successful meeting.
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Bob Ford, recipient of the 2006 SMA Sustained Outstanding Service Award. |
Our 2007 Annual SMA Meeting will be held at the Sheraton Nashville Downtown Hotel in Nashville, Tennessee. Located in the heart of “Music City USA,” the host hotel is within walking distance of the historic district, the Financial District, and LP Field – home of the Titans. Thanks to go Geralyn for again finding us another exciting and affordable venue. Program Chair Allen Amason expects another top-notch program and Charlotte Sutton is working on some outstanding pre-conference workshops through the newly named SMA Professional Development Institute (formerly known as SMAI). Accommodations will cost $109 per night for a single/double room. For additional information, see the 2007 SMA Meeting web page (http://www.southernmanagement.org/meetings/2007).
As mentioned at the outset, the Journal of Management continues to be one of SMAs greatest assets. It is consistently ranked as a top-tier management journal and its circulation, online usage, and impact factor continue to rise dramatically. Russell Cropanzano is doing an exceptional job as the Editor, along with his Senior Associate Editors, Manuel Beccera, Keith D. Brouthers, Jerry Goodstein, Audrey Korsgaard, Terri Scandura, and Thomas Wright, and the Managing Editor, Andrew Li. Thanks also go to Shawnna Stewart of Sage Publications for fostering a highly productive partnership with SMA.
I would like to acknowledge the many contributions of several other individuals who provide administrative support and leadership to SMA. Gary Castrogiovanni continues to do a great job as our Communications Coordinator, which includes preparation of the SMA Newsletter. Over the past two years, Rahul Sawhney of Aquinex has helped SMA make a quantum leap forward in our information systems through the implementation of streamlined electronic submission, reviewing, and publication processes for our annual meeting program,
the development of a consolidated membership data
base, and the maintenance of the SMA Website. As Secretary/Membership Chair, Sherry Moss, working in concert with Rahul, initiated a membership drive that substantially contributed to the dramatic increase in our membership rolls. As Treasury, Sharon Topping did an excellent job of managing our financial resources. The past year also saw the continued work of several Task Forces, so I’d like to extend my thanks to all the members, as well as the Task Force Chairs (including Ben Tepper for Marketing, Mary Gowan for Membership, Chris Riordan for Technology, Charlotte Sutton for Sponsorship, and Melenie Lankau for Ethics).
SMA’s success rests on the countless and generous contributions of these and many, many other people. Yet, as strong as these people have made SMA, it can be strengthened further by contributions from you, the reader. How easy is it to get involved in SMA? Very! Simply submit your work for the program, volunteer to review, and volunteer to serve as a session chair or discussant. Please nominate the persons that you have seen make high quality contributions in these session roles for officer positions. Self-nominations are welcome! We encourage contributions from all of our members, and if you are not a member, we urge you to join. If it’s the people who make the place, then surely it’s the devotion of our members who make SMA special.
Bill Gardner
SMA President
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