An Update from the Chair
Our Division's year, and the road to Philadelphia
To the members of the Management History Division
Dear colleagues and members of the Management History Division,
As we move into the final stretch before AOM 2026 in Philadelphia, I wanted to share a reflective update
on where our Division stands, what we have built together since I took office at the close of the
Copenhagen meeting, and what lies ahead in the months leading up to August. This letter is long, and I
thank you in advance for reading it. It has been a full year, and I want the Division to see the whole of it.
Events and scholarly programming
From the outset, our aim has been to broaden the Division's year-round presence while preserving the
quality of engagement for which our community is known. We launched a two-part workshop series with
Professor Michael Heller on grant applications for historical research, with Part I in November 2025 and
Part II in January 2026, both recorded and made available on our website. In parallel, we ran two
Professional Development Workshops in the fall, a Paper Idea Development Workshop in November and
a Full Paper Development Workshop on 12 December, designed to strengthen the pipeline of AOM
submissions and to give authors earlier, more substantive feedback.
In March, we held a joint Professional Development Workshop with the Entrepreneurship Division. The
event drew a peak attendance of approximately sixty to seventy participants and has been recognized by
both divisions as a model of cross-divisional collaboration. We also endorsed and supported several
external initiatives, including the International Conference on Corporate and Brand Heritage in Naples
(with Professor Michael Rowlinson as our nominated plenary speaker), the AOM Doctoral Student
Community Virtual Open House in April, and the Academy of Management Journal Workshop to be held
in Rome on 6 May.
Programs launched during the year
Three new initiatives have been built and activated. Our Global Ambassador Programme now has
representatives appointed in India, Italy, Japan, Russia, and Turkey, each selected through an open call
and aligned with AOM's code of conduct. Our Volunteer Programme coordinates a dedicated team
supporting communications, benchmarking across divisions, and outreach. And our State-of-the-Art
Mentorship Programme received twenty-three applications from doctoral students and early-career
scholars, with fourteen confirmed mentors to date. We are working to expand the mentor pool and
finalize matches in the coming weeks, and a dedicated mentorship session is planned for the Annual
Meeting in Philadelphia.
AOM 2026 in Philadelphia
The submission numbers reflect the health and momentum of our community. We received seventy-six
submissions in total, including fifty-three papers, six PDWs, four symposia, twenty-five posters, and one
plenary. All six PDWs and all four symposia were accepted, and approximately half of the papers moved
forward to the program. The Program Committee has scheduled the plenary, the social event, and the
business meeting, and logistical preparations are well advanced.
Governance, reporting and partnership
On governance, our October DIGR submission received a positive evaluation in February, with no revisions
requested and encouragement to continue on our strategic path. We completed a leadership climate
survey, finalized ombuds training, and began systematically recording, transcribing, and archiving
executive meetings. The website restructuring is progressing alongside AOM's transition to a new digital
platform, and we have been invited to be among the early adopters. We also approved sponsorship of
the National Doctoral Student Consortium 2026 and continued exploring collaborations with BALAS in
Latin America, with the Organization and Management Theory Division, and with colleagues at Sapienza
University of Rome on future editorial initiatives.
What lies ahead between now and August
Several streams of work will close out the term. The Paper Awards Committee and the People-Related
Awards Committee will finalize their selections in the coming weeks. The Election Committee will
complete the vote for PDW Chair and Division Historian. The call for AOM Travel Grants will close at the
end of April, with funds ($8,500) distributed to support scholars facing financial barriers, prioritizing
authors of accepted papers and active Division reviewers. We will submit the July biannual DIGR progress
report, finalize mentorship matches, and complete preparations for our on-site presence in Philadelphia.
A new inititiative
Alongside these activities, I am launching a new initiative that I believe will serve our community well
beyond the current term. Our volunteers are working to build a curated repository of high-quality sources
for research and teaching in management history, including articles, book chapters, historical analyses,
and methodological exemplars. The collection will be hosted on the Division website and organized to
support doctoral students discovering the field, instructors designing or refreshing courses, and
established scholars seeking reference points across the evolution of management thought and practice.
A first set of materials will be uploaded in early May, and I will share access details with the full
membership once the structure is in place. If you would like to suggest sources or contribute in any
capacity, please feel free to write to me directly.
In closing
None of this work happens in isolation. My gratitude goes to the Executive Committee, to our volunteers
and ambassadors, to our mentors and reviewers, and to every member who has submitted, attended,
moderated, or simply engaged with our activities this year. Our Division is small by AOM standards, but
our reach, our scholarly ambition, and our sense of community continue to grow. I look forward to
welcoming many of you in Philadelphia, and to the conversations still ahead of us.
With warm regards,
Matteo Cristofaro
Chair, Management History Division
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Matteo Cristofaro
Associate Professor of Management
Chair of the Management History Division at AOM
University of Rome Tor Vergata
matteo.cristofaro@uniroma2.it------------------------------