1996 Presidential Address: Reaffirming Our Scholarly Values

Perhaps the title of my Presidential Address will strike some of you as rather uninspired. In the context of our annual meeting, it may even border on demonstrating a reassuring grasp of the commonplace. After all, what is our annual meeting if not a celebration of scholarship and a reaffirmation of our scholarly values? If I'm wrong about this, I have a lot to explain to my family about why I've disappeared for one week each August for the past 20 years. The reason I have chosen this title is that I believe reaffirming our scholarly values although clearly important in and of itself takes on special significance in the broader context of the changing environment and challenges confronting business education. Business schools and, by implication, each of us are being challenged to change in a number of important ways. We are being asked to expand our roles as faculty members and to make greater contributions in a variety of different areas. These demands have taken on a new sense of urgency with the publication of the Task Force Report on Faculty Leadership by the American Assembly of Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB), a report I'll refer to later. In this address, I touch on two important themes. First, what are the implications of the changing environment of business education for our scholarly values? Do the changes taking place in our environment pose a fundamental threat to our scholarly values? Alternatively, do they provide an opportunity for us to reaffirm our scholarly values? Second, what are the implications of the changing environment of business education for the Academy of Management? What is the role of the Academy of Management as a professional faculty association in shaping the future of business education? Presently, our association is not a key player. Should the Academy of Management get involved and, if so, how?