There is an increasing
pressure for management research and theorising to be made more
relevant to the world of practice. The aim of this conference
is to emphasise this need for scholarly rigor and practical
relevance by focusing on the shape of the future and
its possible consequences for managerial priorities and decision-making.
We wish to encourage prospective sense-making, as well
as retrospective explanations and justifications of what
has already happened. Whilst the instinctive orientation of the
academic world is to investigate and offer explanations of past
events, the practitioner world is more pre-occupied with what
will happen and what that will mean for their individual
situations. Therein lies the inevitable tension between academic
rigor and practical relevance.
The conference theme
will act to integrate the plenary sessions, and will serve as
a reference point for some of the tracks, and for a symposium
during the main event. Topics may include business scenarios and
futures, future organizational configurations, the future of management
schools, leadership and foresight, future capitals and markets,
technology, work and employment futures, the future of corporate
governance, capitalism and ideology.
Although we would like
to encourage papers on the central theme, we should stress that
papers on any topic linked to management, business or organization
life will be welcomed. Evaluation will be on the basis of academic
merit and not on proximity to the conference theme.
