Interested in how organizations imagine, construct, and act upon the future?
Wondering what it means to “future making” in management theory and practice?
Curious about how different scholarly perspectives define future making in light of today’s complex societal challenges?
Join us at this year’s Academy of Management Meeting for our Presenter Symposium on “Future-making at a Crossroads.” This session convenes leading scholars to engage in a critical, timely dialogue about the conceptual foundations, theoretical boundaries, and practical relevance of future making in management and organization studies.
Sponsored by the OMT, SAP, and CTO divisions, this symposium welcomes all AOM 2025 attendees interested in desirable futures, temporality, and the evolving role of foresight, and planning in business and society.
Date/Time: Tuesday, July 29 2025; 3:30PM - 5:00PM CEST
Location: Bella Center, MR178
Presenter Papers
The symposium features three thought-provoking presentations, each offering a distinct perspective on the role of future making in management research and practice. Together, these papers open a scholarly conversation on whether – and how – future-making should be theorized as an organizational phenomenon.
Paper 1: Research on Future-making is Too Big to Fail: Toward a Practice Perspective on Future-making
- Matthias Wenzel (Leuphana University of Lüneburg, Germany)
- Laure Cabantous (ESCP Business School, Paris, France)
- Jochen Koch (European University Viadrina, Frankfurt, Germany)
Paper 2: Back to the Future? A Caution
- Alex Wright (Audencia, France)
Paper 3: Future Making as Emancipatory Inquiry: A Value-driven Exploration of Desirable Futures
- Alice Comi (Tongji University, Shanghai, China)
- Luigi Mosca (Imperial Business School, London, UK)
- Jennifer Whyte (University of Sydney, Australia)
Moderators
- Johanne Düsterbeck (Leuphana University of Lüneburg, Germany)
- Eva-Maria Spreitzer (Leuphana University of Lüneburg, Germany)
We look forward to welcoming you in Copenhagen for a thought-provoking conversation about how and why future making matters for organizations, theory-building, and the pursuit of better futures.
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Luigi Mosca
Imperial College London
London
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