IFSAM - IFSAM Mission

IFSAM Mission

IFSAM is the International Federation of Scholarly Associations of Management. IFSAM's mission is to promote research and teaching in the field of management and to exchange and disperse ideas and systems in this field all over the world.

IFSAM aspires to provide a truly global and efficient medium for this exchange and dispersal, in the interest of humankind, in general, and of the management community, in particular.

IFSAM intends to achieve these goals by promoting the worldwide exchange of information and global communication, especially within the science community, but also between the science community and management practice. IFSAM plans to do this by creating and supporting networks and by taking on development responsibilities.

IFSAM has a range of key instruments in place in order to achieve these goals. IFSAM provides information on management research and management teaching performed in all of its member organisations, presents and discusses research findings, engages in a dialogue on standards of good research and disseminates new knowledge on successful teaching. This requires IFSAM to be visible on a global scale. Publications in various media and IFSAM's biennial conferences with delegates from all over the world help to create this visibility.

The IFSAM Council, chaired by the IFSAM President, is the driving force behind these goals. The Council meets annually with the Executive Board. Up to two representatives of each of the member organisations sit on the Executive Board. The Council is responsible for setting the current topics of communication, for compiling information on these topics and for supporting the publication of an IFSAM Newsletter. The IFSAM Council also decides on the place, timing and themes of the IFSAM Conferences. As far as possible, IFSAM Conferences should reflect the organisation's international nature by being held on all continents at appropriate intervals.

The incumbent President is responsible for developing the federation and coordinates with the IFSAM Council on how best to proceed. The President is also responsible for initiating and undertaking the requisite measures.

The Internet represents an important communication tool in between the major conferences and other events. This is why the President and the IFSAM Secretariat are responsible for ensuring that all the information on the topics suggested by the Council is made available to the member organisations and their members via the Internet. Print publications, especially the Newsletter, scientific publications and a Yearbook, for example, are to support this task.

Explanatory notes:

1.	It should be notified that our understanding of “Management” is a broad one which includes the concepts of “business” and “organisation”. The focus of IFSAM activities is on research and teaching (in this order).

2.	Paragraph 2 emphasises IFSAM's high standards.

The general description of the mission presented in the 1st paragraph is defined more precisely in the 3rd paragraph: communication respectively information, education and support for networks, and development tasks. However, the question of how much weight will be given to dialogue with management practice still needs to be resolved.

The main instruments for achieving the goals should be specified in respect of research (presentation of research findings, discussion on these and dialogue on standards of good research) as well as teaching (information and presentation of new findings and knowledge in this field). That happens in the 4th paragraph. In addition, the need for "visibility" and the ways to achieve this must be explicitly mentioned.

5.	The mission statement emphases the important role of the Council, which will be integrated more closely into the content work in the future.

6.	If development tasks are an important IFSAM activity, responsibility for this work must be clearly allocated. This happens in paragraph 6.

7.	As far as the provision of communication and information is concerned, greater weight must be given to the Internet in the future. This is why the Internet is explicitly mentioned here alongside other media.