There's Something Interesting Going On at the Academy of Management for Practitioners

It's nearly time for the annual bash at the Academy of Management.  For those readers not familiar with this annual event, it is probably the biggest and most important event on the academic management calendar.  However, very few practitioners attend, which is a great shame because if you attend the rights sessions it really does deliver some excellent, well researched ideas of great value that you are unlikely to get from going to much more expensive practitioner events.  As an example from the last two years, there were ground-breaking sessions on employee engagement and management consulting, which went far beyond the usual fare at SHRM/CIPD events.

One of the reasons guess that practitioners don't go is because of the divide between academics and industry.  Many of the sessions at the AOM display this in spades, especially those following the traditional hypothesis testing approach of old and safe ideas (nothing new here), which get wrapped up in statistical proofs and arguments that few people understand.  However, when you get good academic work aimed at theory generation or providing solid evidence on management fads, there is nothing so practical (as good theory!).

With this in mind, two practitioners with an academic backrgound are putting on a symposium with some practically minded HR academics (including this one) to help bridge this gap.  If you can't attend, please do follow the blog for the event.  You can participate from afar and help us in our quest to become more relevant while remaining rigorous.