CALL FOR PAPERS III

CALL FOR JOBS

Dear AFAM Family,

A couple of months ago we shared with you information on a partnership between AFAM and University of Michigan (see 1 below). Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a face-to-face session could not be held. As a result, a virtual ICOS seminar was held in October (see 2 below). The recorded seminar may be watched as a group (preferably) or individually to stimulate reflection and discourse. You may then send questions to the Directors. If you plan to have a watch-party as a group, please let the Directors, particularly Jim Westphal, know.

We would like to invite members of AFAM to consider participation at the 4th International Conference of the HR Division (https://commerce.nwu.ac.za/HRIC2022) from 11-13 January 2022 hosted by the North-West University in Potchefstroom, South Africa. This conference will also be held online, but all our keynote speakers and various distinguished HR scholars will be at the conference venue. We would also like to have a strong PhD and master's degree contingent, thus we made the conference fee $100 for students. It would be appreciated if you could inform AFAM members of this opportunity and consider being mentioned as one of our partners (https://commerce.nwu.ac.za/human-resource-division-international-conference/partners).

The increasingly uncertain and turbulent environments foreshadowed by a raging Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, migration crisis, increased organizational restructuring, rapid and disruptive technological advances, intense competition, and globalization have intensified the call for employees’ developing receptive attention to and awareness of present events i.e. mindfulness (Brown, Ryan, & Creswell, 2007; Haun, Nübold, & Bauer, 2018; Hülsheger, Walkowiak, & Thommes, 2018) and the building of high-quality relational systems, such as strong relational attachments (Ehrhardt & Ragins, 2019) within the work milieu. This certainly can safeguard against threats posed by present and future events, job demands, as well as unanticipated organizational changes (e.g., job retrenchment) and policies (e.g., preference for young workers or so-called millennials). Moreover, these changes have also increasingly shifted the responsibility of human functioning and well-being from organizations to employees (McCauley & Hezlett, 2001; Zoogah, 2010). Yet, while mindfulness and relational systems represent fundamental parts of human functioning and well-being in contemporary private, public and nongovernmental organizations, we know little about when, why and how the two constructs can jointly and interactively advance psychological and social understanding and impact of management in organizations.

IFSAM is proud to release the first positioning statement from our General Assembly. This draws on the discussions at our recent webinar series to provide a synthesis of the current situation in relation to the evaluation of management research and to suggest a way forward.

Historical Perspectives and Modern Trends

Series: Palgrave Studies of Entrepreneurship in Africa

The effective management of organizations and institutions in Africa has never before been so important in realizing the continent’s potential for growth and socio-economic development. However, the management capabilities of institutions in Africa frequently appear uncertain, despite a growing need for good governance, higher standards and increasing professionalization. These outcomes can only be realized through high quality local research that advances theory and practice about management in Africa.

The continuing Covid-19 pandemic poses considerable challenges for effectively organizing our usually small interactive conferences with their hallmarks of lively intellectual exchanges in a supportive and non-threatening environment. Given the uncertainties about when the pandemic will be tamed and normal life resumed, the AFAM executive team (in consultation with the German University in Cairo’s Local Organizing Committee) has decided to postpone the scheduled AFAM 2022 conference to January 2023. We are grateful to the German University in Cairo for agreeing to host the rescheduled conference.

Are you coming to the 6b^th Biennial AFAM Conference in Cairo, Egypt in January 2022? Are you a junior scholar who is interested in getting feedback on your paper? Are you interested in exploring the opportunities and processes for developing theories of management and organization that are indigenous to Africa.?