Organization and Management Theory OMT

I would like to invite you to a Professional Development Workshop (PDW) that is intended to explore how leadership responds to the increased complexity of today's business environment and how the academy can help through new research approaches.  The session is entitled:

Complexity in Human Systems:

Exploring how leadership should respond & what research has to say about it

The session will be held on Saturday, Aug 8, 2009 from 8:00 AM to 11:00 PM at the Sheraton Hotel, Chicago (Arkansas room).

The 2007 Best Practitioner Paper award in the OB division of the Academy went to "A Leader's framework for decision making," by Snowden & Boone, published as the cover article in the Harvard Business Review. This PDW event, which includes one of the authors of that paper, will gather a group of interested academy members from both practice and research to review the current state and future potential of complexity research, its modifications or extensions that are needed to accommodate it to human systems, and its future directions for research and the practice of leadership. Brief presentations by the panel will begin discussion.

We have an exciting program that will cover a full range of interests. For instance,

• Jim Hazy, a retired AT&T executive and a professor at Adelphi University, School of Business, will moderate the session and provide an overview of a complexity-informed view of leadership in today's organization. He is a co-editor of the book: Complex Systems Leadership Theory: New Perspectives from Complexity Science on Social and Organizational Effectiveness.
• Dave Snowden was formerly an IBM executive and is the founder of Cognitive Edge, Ltd.   He is also a visiting fellow at Warwick Unversity, and an adjunct Professor at Hong Kong and Pretoria Universities.  Cognitive Edge offers unique research methods and tools that are being used by business and government groups worldwide to explore evolving narratives in complex social environments.  He will describe his field work in the context of the lessons it offers practicing leaders, demonstrate his software and analysis techniques, and provide a website where attendees can use the software to contribute their own stories to the ongoing research program.
• Pierpaolo Andriani of Durham Business School, UK and eBMS- Scuola Superiore ISUFI- U. of Salento focuses his research on complexity, innovation and new product development. He will describe methods and analysis techniques (done with Bill McKelvey below) that can be used to identify the environmental and organizational factors that remain consistent across scale, from work groups, through divisions, to firms and even industries.
• Bill McKelvey from the University of California at Los Angeles has published scores of papers on complexity and leadership. He will describe how complexity ideas can be used to understand the success of prominent executives and leaders. This discussion will establish the critical link between a deep understanding of complexity ideas (although often implicit) and practical success at any level.