In cooperation with the Executive DBA Council (EDBAC), the DM Program organized and hosted this conference from September 10-13, 2017 in Baltimore, Maryland. Its theme “The Paradigm Shift in Doctoral Education for Scholar-Practitioners” focused on evidence-based research and learning that builds scholar-practitioner competence. The conference presented research papers, poster sessions, panels, keynote speakers, professional development workshops, a doctoral consortium, and an alumni consortium. Conference participants included 160 management scholars and practitioners from nearly 50 universities in Asia, Europe, and North America.
Keynote speaker Charles Onstott of SAIC, Inc., opened the conference with a presentation on how “Deploying Big Data in the Organization Matters for Scholar-Practitioners.” On the second conference day, Dr. Richard Boyatzis of Case Western Reserve University delivered a keynote presentation on “Scholar-Practitioner Competencies for Resonant Leadership.” These presentations served as bookends for the diverse range of interests among conference attendees.
Throughout the conference, some 30 research papers were presented around a wide range of themes, including Behavior in Organizations, Social Entrepreneurship, Change Initiatives, Organizational Strategy, Finance, Trust in Teams, Development Planning, Globalization Impacts, Marketing Analytics, Innovation, Ethics for Managers, and Decision Making. A series of Panels and Professional Development Workshops addressed research methods, literature search skills, practical theorizing, data science in practice, career paths for scholar-practitioners, journal publication, and standards for executive DBA education. The DM Program was represented by paper authors Alissa Harrison, Calvin Martin, Denise Nadasen, Tanya Pelcher-Herring, and Margaret Walthall. Numerous DM faculty, students, and alums made a commitment to review the conference papers
A Doctoral Consortium brought together 10 faculty members from a range of EDBAC schools and 18 doctoral students from many of their programs. Six participants from the DM program gained valuable learning experience and further developed their dissertations based on insights and critiques by both faculty and fellow doctoral students.
The Alumni Consortium built on its launch at last year’s EMS conference and fostered networking among graduates of EDBAC member schools. This consortium chronicled experiences of some 30 graduates’ transition into new career paths through “elevator pitches” that portrayed their journey since graduation. New initiatives for collaboration around research and publication impact were discussed, including how to build a thriving community of scholar-practitioners. Several networking receptions were held during the conference, including a Saturday evening reception at the National Aquarium in Baltimore’s Inner Harbor.
The “Best Conference Paper” award was presented to David Altounian of Oklahoma State University and the “Best Conference Poster” awarded was presented to Alissa Harrison of UMUC.
The conference benefited for exceptional commitment of all the DM Program faculty and staff without whose support the conference would not have been the success that it was.
Resource materials from conference papers and presentations can be accessed through the EDBAC web site at http://www.executivedba.org/emsresources
EMS 2015 Conference papers are published on the Social Science Research Network (SSRN) and can be viewed at this link:
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/JELJOUR_Results.cfm?form_name=journalbrowse&journal_id=2642975
