Q&A with Sharon Alvarez, President of the Academy of Management
Sharon Alvarez, Thomas W. Olofson Chair in Entrepreneurial Studies and Professor of Business Administration at Pitt Business, is the 2023-24 President of the Academy of Management (AOM). Founded in 1936, this is the preeminent professional association for management and organization scholars. The 18,000+ members are professors and PhD students in business schools at universities, academics in related social science and other fields along with practitioners in more than 120 countries.
Pitt Business asked Alvarez for her thoughts about her leadership role, the organization, and management industry today:
Q. What inspired you to pursue an academic career in management, and how has your journey led you to become AOM president?
I have always been interested in the reasons why business and management did the things they did. What were the theories that drove management decisions and how did they influence and manifest themselves in practice? What were we as researchers and scholars contributing or missing to management practice?
Early in my career I became interested in entrepreneurship research, how was entrepreneurship different from more established management practice and theory? From there I sought to understand why new firms emerge and decision making under conditions of uncertainty. In the early days my work was quite controversial but as time has gone by it has become mainstream and gone beyond entrepreneurship research and influenced management research more broadly. It was the pioneering nature of my work that pushed me to lead in the field of entrepreneurship that was simultaneously emerging with my work.
Due to the pioneering nature of my work, I was elected to chair the emerging and growing entrepreneurship division of the Academy of Management. Today that division is the 5th largest division of the academy. I was also appointed as the first entrepreneurship associated editor of the Academy of Management Review. When I finished my term as an editor, I received a phone call from the Past President of AOM and she asked if I would run for AOM Executive Committee and ultimately President of AOM. It was an easy answer – YES.
Q: What are your key priorities during your tenure, and how do you envision them shaping the future of management research and practice?
I have made ethics and community the cornerstones of my term. Today, there are greater demands on business organizations to have greater responsibility to the communities that they serve. We management scholars need to go beyond research and teaching and live the principles that we champion. Our business practices in the academy must be of the highest integrity, quality, and transparency. Our numbers at AOM are our strength. As members of one of the most prestigious communities in the world we must hold ourselves to the highest standards and pay it forward as we build a community of scholars that are committed to high ideals.
Q: The landscape of management is constantly evolving, with technological advancements, globalization, and socio-economic changes shaping the way organizations operate. What are the most pressing challenges or opportunities, and how can AOM play a role to address them?
The globe is currently experiencing many grand challenges. Business management has a large and important role to play in addressing these challenges. AOM has immense presence in the world – between 18,000 to 20,000 members in over 120 countries and we house seven of the most prominent journals in management research. That is why I am committed to making sure that AOM has a strong sense of community and ethical commitment that recognizes the responsibility we have as we support research and teaching. The AOM community produces research on a grand scale with a huge amount of influence and impact on the world, and we must always be aware of our responsibility.
