International Federation of Scholarly Associations of Management (IFSAM)

Minutes of the Council Meeting

July 7, 2000—Montreal

President: Professor Andre Petit

Past President: Professor Santiago Garcia-Echevarria

President Elect: Professor Greg Bamber

Secretary: Professor Michael Hitt

Treasury: Professor Yvon Pesqueux

Professor Luis Martino – Argentina

Professor Elio Rafael Zuani – Argentina

Professor Mary Barrett (representing ANZAM) – Australia

Professor Lou Hammond Ketilson – Canada

Professor Greg Irving – Canada

Professor Zhicheng Chen – China

Professor Joan van Aken – Dutch-Flemish

Professor Jacques Rojot – France

Professor Eric Simon – France

Professor Tasuku Noguchi – Japan

Professor Koji Okubayashi – Japan

Professor Maria Jose Perez Rodriguez – Spain

Professor Rolf Lundin – Sweden

Professor Anne Huff – USA

Professor Dave Whetten – USA

Other members sent their apologies.

President Andre Petit opened the meeting at 10:05 a.m. and welcomed council members. He asked all council members present to introduce themselves. Following, he announced the time and place of lunch and dinner and then provided a short handout entitled “What is IFSAM?”

President Andre Petit asked if there were any additions or changes requested in the agenda. None mentioned, President Petit asked for an approval of the agenda. Motion was made by Professor Bamber and seconded by Professor van Aken. The agenda was approved unanimously.

President Petit introduced the minutes from the 1999 meeting and asked if there were any changes or inaccuracies. He allowed the members a few minutes to read through the minutes. Afterwards, having no changes or revisions suggested, Professor Petit asked for an approval of the minutes. The motion was made by Professor Bamber and seconded by Professor Pesqueux. Motion was approved unanimously.

President Petit called attention to the item on page 4 of the minutes calling for the establishment of the Carolyn Dexter Memorial Address on International Management and the Carolyn Dexter International Management Scholarship. Professor Petit noted that they had been fortunate to partially implement these proposals. He explained that the conference program included the Carolyn Dexter Memorial Symposium chaired by Professor Janice Beyer (a close friend of Carolyn Dexter). The presenters in the symposium are Professor Nancy Adler (McGill University) and Professor Fons Trompenaars (THT Intercultural Management Consulting). The content focuses on global leadership in the 21^st century.

Professor Petit then noted that they were only partially successful in implementing the proposals approved at the previous meeting. They were not successful in implementing the Carolyn Dexter International Management Scholarship. He suggested, however, that twenty-four IFSAM papers were identified and would receive a special mention (and certificate) for best paper. However, time did not permit going through and selecting the best paper presented by a Ph.D. student to which a scholarship could be awarded. He stated his hope that this proposal could be implemented at the next IFSAM World Congress.

Professor Petit explained that the IFSAM conference was operated for the first time as a joint endeavor with a member association’s conference. Therefore, the current conference is listed as ASAC-IFSAM. He noted that it provides a number of advantages, to include flexibility and size. For example, when ASAC met in Quebec in the past, it has drawn approximately 400-500 participants. However, the joint conference now has slightly over 1000 participants this year. As a result, it is considered a large success. Furthermore, this is even more pleasing because of the competition with the larger Academy of Management meeting that will be held in Toronto next month. As a result, he said that we in IFSAM and the leaders of ASAC are very pleased. The only disadvantage that Professor Petit explained was the necessary coordination between the two organizations. However, this operation has been handled with positive cooperation.

Professor Petit noted that all papers from the conference were available on a CD ROM. Furthermore, a proceedings of the best papers in each of the specialized disciplines, papers from ASAC and IFSAM participants, are being published.

He noted that there would be a welcoming reception in the school at 5:00 p.m. on Saturday afternoon in the De Seve building and asked that all IFSAM council members please attend.

Professor Petit stated that he was honored to be president and delighted to meet so many excellent members of IFSAM. He noted that he had been well surrounded by an excellent executive committee and personally thanked each member individually. He also noted that he had been well surrounded by many people in helping develop and implement this conference. While there were too many people to thank individually, he wished to provide his special acknowledgement to Professor Jean Pasquero and Professor Ann Langley who provided immense help to Professor Petit in developing this program.

Professor Petit noted that while it is an honor to be president of IFSAM, there is always more to do than time allows. He noted that during his term the British Academy of Management, has rejoined IFSAM following discussions between Greg Bamber and BAM representatives. He also noted that unfortunately they were unable to send representatives to the council meeting of a misunderstanding of the meeting dates. He also said that IFSAM has unfortunately lost Chile as a member because it wishes its participation in IFSAM to be through CLADEA. Alternatively, he noted that Brazil is interested in becoming a member and that there are meetings between the Brazilian leaders and IFSAM leaders scheduled at this conference.

Professor Petit noted that his priorities in recent times have been placed on organizing the meeting and he had spent much time traveling between Montreal and Sherbrooke. One of the major problems he experienced was in dealing with the Chinese delegation that encountered difficulties in obtaining a visa from the Canadian government to attend the meeting. Unfortunately, the Canadian government had recently experienced a number of Chinese who were attempting to enter the country illegally and thus had tightened granting of visas to Chinese, regardless of the reasons. He said that he had worked diligently to try to correct this problem for the Chinese delegation and he was concerned that possibly only part of the Chinese presenters would be able to attend.

Professor Petit also made some comments on IFSAM as an organization. Professor Petit has been involved in IFSAM almost from the beginning and attended the first conference in Japan followed by the second one in Dallas. He said that IFSAM is still a fragile organization that must demonstrate its added value. Professor Petit noted that the Germans provided the impetus to start the organization and he was still hopeful for the future of the organization which he saw as bright. Professor Petit noted that he hoped all of the members of the IFSAM council would feel proud after seeing the quality of the current conference. The president’s report was approved.

Professor Bamber reported on the plans for the World Congress to be held in Australia July 10-13, 2002. He presented a preliminary brochure and noted that the conference would be jointly held with ANZAM. Professor Bamber explained that Griffith University would serve as the conference organizers and that there would be an attempt to maintain informality at the conference. The theme of the conference will be “Management in a Global Context: Prospects for the 21^st Century”. Professor Bamber introduced Mike Davidson as the conference manager.

Mike Davidson made a presentation about the expected operations for the conference. He noted that a preliminary website is currently operating and invited the council members to visit it. He also suggested that a link be provided on each of the national associations’ websites to the website for this conference (www.gu.edu.au/ifsam). He suggested that it would also be helpful if each association would include promotion for the conference in their communications with members (e.g., in their newsletters). Members could be encouraged to participate for there is a risk in holding the conference for the first time in the southern hemisphere. Many people perceive Australia as a distant location. But Australia is very attractive and budget flights are available if booked in advance. The conference will be held in the Conrad Jupiters, a five star hotel in a beautiful setting. Currently, a block of rooms is being held at the hotel for the conference. He did not expect a problem with room availability, as there are some 15 international five star hotels on the Gold Coast. The rate that has been locked in for 2 years is approximately $114.00USD. They will use similar streams (theme groups) as the conference in Montreal with the possible addition of biotechnology management. Suggestions for other themes or symposia would be welcome but need to be proposed very soon. The program will follow similar approach to that adopted for the Canadian conference. Currently, he is budgeting to achieve a small profit if there is a reasonable rate of participation and amount of sponsorship. This was followed by a discussion of who receives the profits and who takes the risks. It was noted that generally the local organizer/university takes the risks.

Professor van Aken made a motion that IFSAM should only invest a fixed amount (e.g., $10,000 for each world conference) and the local organizer should take the risks and profit. In other words, the local organizer would decide on the distribution of the profits. Professor Irving seconded this motion. There was considerable discussion following this motion regarding financial issues related to IFSAM but Professor Petit asked that these be postponed until the next item related to IFSAM’s finances. There were questions about the fairness of proposals to IFSAM and the host organizer as partner. Overall, at the end of the discussion, most seemed to feel that the motion was reasonable. The motion was approved unanimously.

Professor Okubayashi asked about the potential to provide financial support for scholars from developing countries. Professor Bamber stated that he would like to see IFSAM do this and maybe it can be done through more sponsorships or subsidization through higher registration fees for scholars from the developed countries. Also, there was a discussion that perhaps each of the streams (theme areas) could provide a couple of scholarships for scholars in that area. Professor Bamber stated that consideration would be given to this issue. How could we do this? gb

Professor Pesqueux provided a written report on the accounts and explained that they were audited by a professional accountant, Claude Simon. He explained the payments made by each of the member organizations and presented the budget for 2001.

There were questions asked about the projected deficits in the year 2000 and 2001. Professor Pesqueux noted that there was an error in the handout regarding the year 2000 and that there would actually be a surplus of $4000 in the year 2000. Furthermore, Professor Pesqueux explained that IFSAM would experience surpluses in the year in which monies were not provided to the president for the operation of his/her office and the conference but would experience a deficit in the year when those funds were provided. Professor Noguchi asked about more sophisticated forecasting of the IFSAM budget. Basically, it was stated that our cash position should remain about the same over time as explained by Professor Pesqueux. There was a motion to approve the treasurer’s report by Professor Bamber and seconded by Professor Simon. The motion was unanimously approved.

Professor Bamber explained that there was a plan to meet in Cardiff, Wales in conjunction with the British Academy of Management. Professor Bamber noted that he had coordinated with Professor Richard Whipp, Chair of BAM and that the meeting would probably be held on September 4, 2001. Professor Bamber moved that the council meet in Cardiff, Wales with the British Academy of Management in 2001. Professor Huff seconded the motion. The motion was unanimously approved.

There was a discussion about the appropriateness of meeting in Brazil or some other Latin American location. Some also felt that the Argentinean delegation might be interested in hosting the council meeting in 2003, if there was a way to meet in conjunction with the local conference. The motion was made by Professor Bamber to invite the Latin American members to submit a proposal to IFSAM to hold the council meeting in conjunction with a local conference in 2003. The motion was seconded by Professor van Aken. The motion was unanimously approved.

Professor Lundin explained the proposal to hold the seventh World Congress of IFSAM 2004 in Gothenburg, Sweden. He explained the Gothenburg was the second largest city in Sweden. It is an industrial city and has the second oldest business school in Sweden. He proposed a theme of “The New Economy: Implications for Management and Management Research”. He explained that the Scandinavian Academy of Management supports this proposal. A short video was shown on the city of Gothenburg. Professor Lundin moved to approve the location of the seventh World Congress in 2004 at Gothenburg, Sweden and the motion was seconded by Professor Whetten. The motion was unanimously approved.

Professor Bamber explained a proposal to establish a permanent secretariat (or at least one of relatively long term, i.e., 5 years). He explained the need to have better communications with the members and that a permanent secretary could do so more effectively than the current system of rotating secretaries. He stated that some members expressed concerns about the need to ensure a better communication with member associations. Professor Hitt spoke in favor of this proposal and explained the need for better communication with members as well as establishment of a more effective organizational memory. The turnover in officers, as with most professional organizations, makes it difficult to establish an organizational memory.

Professor Noguchi explained that IFSAM was a hybrid organization and we should be able to provide better communications with the electronic communication technologies now available. Professor Bamber agreed but noted the need for a consistent driver of such communication. Professor Okubayashi explained that this was a reasonable proposal for greater organizational effectiveness. However, he noted that having officers from the different member associations improved commitments of the associations to IFSAM. Therefore, he prefers to keep the current alignment of officers. Professor van Aken suggested that perhaps we could find a host to hold the secretariat for longer time and include the treasurer position as well. Yet, he suggested that IFSAM maintain the elected positions as well. Professor Bamber moved that the council allow the executive to explore the opportunity to establish a more permanent secretariat and possibly include the treasurer activities by writing job descriptions and searching for sponsors (e.g., from member associations, major consulting organizations or even a large multinational organization). However, as a part of this motion the elected positions would remain, at this time. The proposal was seconded by Professor van Aken. The vote was 16 in favor, one opposed and three abstentions. Therefore, the motion was approved.

Professor Garcia-Echevarria explained the nominations for each of the vacant positions of president elect, secretary and treasurer. He noted that Professor Lundin received eleven nominations for president. He also explained that Professor Okubayashi received six nominations for the secretary position and that Professor Pesqueux received two nominations for the position of treasurer. Lastly, he noted that Professor Hitt had received nominations for both the secretary and treasurer positions but that he declined to be a candidate for those positions. The candidates were asked if they would accept the positions were they were elected and all three agreed to do so. Votes were taken for each of three positions and Professor Lundin was elected to the position of President Elect, Professor Okubayashi was elected to the position of Secretary and Professor Pesqueux was reelected to the position of Treasurer for the years 2000-2001.

Professor Whetten expressed a concern. He observed that it is difficult to be president and program chair at the same time and perhaps IFSAM should consider splitting these positions as is done in many of the other member associations because of this difficulty. A discussion ensured and it was decided that the executive would consider this possibility in the future.

Professor Bamber is chair of the membership committee. It was explained that the British Academy of Management had rejoined during the past year and discussions were being held with the leaders of the Brazilian organization. There was some discussion about the possibility of reopening discussions with the Russian association, RABAS. Professor Whetten questioned whether we should target national or regional academies (e.g., Scandinavian Academy, CLADEA). Others described the need to maintain maximum flexibility. In some cases it is appropriate to target regional academies, while in others it is appropriate to target national academies.

It was also suggested that it might be best to delete the term sciences in the description of IFSAM and only refer to researchers and educators in management. Professor Petit noted that this can be done administratively and there was no need for a vote.

The new research committee that was composed at the last council meeting in 1999 included Professor Albach as chair, Professor Ryder, Professor Lundin, Professor Noguchi, Professor Garcia-Echevarria, and Professor Hammond-Ketilson. It was noted that this committee had not met during the last year. Professor Petit explained that three research projects on the management of universities, management of artistic endeavors and management in developing countries had been approved in past meetings. However, there was a discussion of whether IFSAM should support specific research projects. Professor Pesqueux stated that he refused to pay a personal invoice for research on the management of artistic endeavors to Professor Eminente and requested specific invoices for the expenses. Professor Eminente was supposed to have brought these invoices to the meeting but was unable to attend this meeting due to other unexpected commitments.

Professor Petit opened the discussion about funding research projects and the potential need to due so with open applications, due process and required documentation. There was a suggestion that IFSAM needs to see the output and justification for expenditures. There is need for a more competitive process and accountability. A discussion ensued on the reasons regarding why IFSAM should/should not be funding research projects. Some encouraged IFSAM to consider carefully any proposal and that we not eliminate the possibility of encouraging international cooperation on research projects. IFSAM provides the opportunity for networking across country borders and there is need to ensure commitment and support for global research in management. In fact, research is one of the pillars of IFSAM as stated by Professor Petit. Professor Bamber made a motion to give a mandate to the executive of IFSAM to recommend a process of encouraging research at the international level. Professor Simon seconded the motion. The motion was approved unanimously.

Professor Petit was chair of the journal committee along with members Professor Albach and Professor Garcia-Echevarria. Professor Petit reported that there had been no movement to establish the journal, primarily because of the question of the appropriate financial support. Professor Bamber reported that he had discussions with Professor Cary Cooper of BAM and the AoM who is currently editing the International Journal of Management Reviews for Blackwell Publishers. Professor Cooper indicated that he may be establishing a broader based journal and it was suggested that members of IFSAM have a discussion with Professor Cooper at the Academy of Management meetings in Toronto next month (this journal may be similar to the one proposed by IFSAM). A motion had been made and approved in Spain to establish a new journal but no action had been taken. Professor Garcia Echevarria informed the Council that he had a meeting with Professor Albach and Professor Burlaud in Bonn to deal with the journal issue at that time. At the IFSAM Council Meeting in Alcala Professor Mowday was asked to make an evaluation of the separate proposals made by Professor Petit and by Professor Albach. Additionally, Professor Garcia Echevarria reported that Gabler Verlag made a specific written proposal for the publication of the journal and this was communicated to the council. Thus, he argued that it cannot be said that no action had been taken. Rather, no decision has been made. Additionally, Professor Garcia Echevarria reported that Gabler Verlag had been acquired by Bertelsmann so that the issue of a publisher will have to be revisited.

It was suggested that, perhaps, IFSAM can revive the idea through the establishment of a niche journal. However, there were differences of opinion stated by members of the council, some suggesting that we should drop the idea while others felt we should go forward. In the end, there was a consensus that a mandate be given to the executive to consider this issue and decide what should be done.

Professor Petit also suggested that the committee structure should be reconsidered. He stated that the current committees generally did not meet and thus were not effective. Most of the work seems to fall on one person in the committee. Professor Hammond-Ketilson noted that turnover in membership makes it difficult for committees to be effective. Alternatively, Professor Pesqueux suggested that electronic communications should facilitate coordination and virtual meetings. Others argued that we should give mandates to people to get the work done. Professor Bamber expressed concerns about eliminating the committee structure and placing so many burdens on the executive. He suggested that perhaps the size of the executive group should be increased. Possibly finding a publishing organization with electronic arm would help facilitate publications, according to Dr. Barrett. She suggested that the executive consider this issue further.

Professor Lundin made a motion to give the executive a mandate to expand the size of the executive and to consider structure changes to appoint new members to the executive. He also proposed the use of an electronic ballot of council members to formalize the appointments. Professor Irving seconded the motion and it was unanimously approved.

Professor Petit explained that the burden is on the president to coordinate with all member organizations. Professor Huff recommended that more financial support be provided for the president to travel to member constituent meetings. Professor Petit responded that he had traveled to several conferences (three) within the past year. Others felt more work on the website and having a permanent conference on the website would be useful. Some suggested adding a working paper series from each member organization linked to the IFSAM website. This would solve some of the involvement, research issues and possibly the journal issue. However, Professor Noguchi expressed concern about the potential intellectual property right violations by having access to these papers on the net. He suggested that we could accomplish translations in English much more easily. Professor Petit explained some of the problems that IFSAM had incurred with its website, with the resignation of Tony Schelling and the lack of support provided by that organization for shifting the site to Sherbrooke. It required Professor Petit’s organization to totally reestablish that website. He asked for volunteers to help manage the website for IFSAM. Professor Eric Simon volunteered to help manage the website and the members expressed their appreciation to Professor Simon.

Professor Whetten explained that is unclear to him whether IFSAM is an association of associations or an international association of management scholars. Can IFSAM be used as a clearinghouse for solving typical problems in professional organizations by sharing best practices? He suggested that all leaders of the member associations manage volunteers and their professional organizations. Furthermore, he noted that there is quite a bit of research on trends in the management of associations. For example, he suggested that there is a trend from information distribution toward knowledge access.

Professor van Aken also argued the need to improve the quality of IFSAM conferences in order to compete more effectively with other professional association conferences. Professor Bamber suggested that IFSAM should communicate with its members and ask what IFSAM can do to add value to them. What sorts of knowledge do they want? Professor Lundin said there was good reason to rethink the mission of IFSAM and it would be worth asking member associations what they think the IFSAM mission should be in order to add appropriate value.

Professor Petit called on Professor van Aken who provided a brief explanation of the new European Academy of Management that is being formed. He communicated that a conference is being organized in Barcelona for next year. He then asked the question, “Should there be a relationship between IFSAM and this new organization?” Should this new organization be a member of IFSAM? Both French members of the council suggested that there would be no problem as there is movement toward multiculturalism in Europe. Thus, IFSAM could seek EAM as a member organization.

Professor Petit then noted that the time of our meeting was at its end and thanked all of the members of the council who attended the meeting and participated in the discussions. Professor Petit adjourned the meeting at 5:00 p.m.