CFP: Social Media and Management

Social Media and Management

Call for Chapters, Advanced Series in Management

Tanya Bondarouk (University of Twente, The Netherlands; t.bondarouk@utwente.nl)

Miguel R. Olivas-Luján (Clarion University of Pennsylvania, USA; molivas@clarion.edu)

Deadline for submission of ideas or chapters: July 31st, 2012 (see details below)

Social media is a term currently in use to describe a wide variety of Information and Telecommunication Technologies (ICTs) whose common denominator is the ability to connect users in ways that enable bridging distance, time, and other traditional barriers.  Even though several “electronic facilities” have captured both general and business attention, it is clear that a high degree of environmental turbulence or high velocity exists, as both software (e.g., social networking sites such as LinkedIn, Xing, facebook, google+, Orkut, or MySpace; blogging sites such as Wordpress, blogspot or twitter; personal or organizational rich-media facilities like YouTube, Skype, Spotify, etc.) and hardware platforms (e.g., tablets, smartphones, thinbooks and other recent innovations) keep evolving at a blistering pace.  Systematic, rigorous research using best-available scientific evidence methodologies that document and analyze the use of this phenomenon in business are currently lagging behind this revolution; this scholarly book is an attempt to fill this knowledge gap to facilitate knowledge acquisition and diffusion, as well as enable the higher levels of understanding that may precede both the exploitation and the exploration of newer and more advanced tools and methodologies.

For this volume of the Advanced Series in Management, we are seeking chapters that will increase our understanding of how these emerging technologies are evolving, using the most rigorous social scientific methods and tools.  Topics that may best fit this volume’s editorial intentions include (but are not limited to) the following:

• Management of social media within and outside organizations (for recruitment, selection or other personnel decisions, for marketing, reputational and any other relevant business, non-profit, or work-related, governmental purposes)
• Development or evolution of new or customized products and services using social media as an information source or as a promotional vehicle in particular companies or industries
• Predictors, types and consequences of intra-organizational social media policy acceptance, rejection and diffusion gaps
• Influences of culture, legislative traditions, economic blocs, corporate descriptors, industrial characteristics, and any other aspect that may affect the development, management, and effectiveness of the use of social media
• Individual and social (from small group to national or cross-cultural levels) characteristics and factors that facilitate adoption, use and diffusion of social media for business and other work-related purposes
• Comparisons and contrasts of differential uses of social media in work contexts in emerging (e.g., Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, Middle-East, etc.) or non-Western economic settings 
• Virtual, technologically mediated markets, life, work, newly developed, gamefied (or not) products or services, crowd-sourced or personally oriented, etc.

As a volume in the Advanced Series in Management, this scholarly book will contribute to researcher’s understanding of the development, antecedents, processes and consequences of social media in management around the world.  It may also be used as a reference in executive education programs or as a textbook in graduate (or advanced undergraduate) courses in accredited Colleges or Schools of Businesses, Technology Management, Information and Communication Systems, and similarly situated educational offerings.  Cross-disciplinary collaborations that include fieldwork or empirically supported findings (e.g., from experimental or quasi-experimental, large-scale, generalizable, longitudinal or cross-sectional studies, to deductive, rich, ethnographic, inductive, case-based methodologies) are particularly sought, as also are rigorous, tightly developed or grounded theory-building with an applied or pragmatic (e.g., design science) purpose.  Average chapter size is expected to hover around 3000 words (excluding references, figures, and tables). Only original work whose copyright is owned (or cleared) by the chapter authors and not considered for publication elsewhere can be considered for inclusion in the ASM series.

Scholars whose work is likely to fit this call for chapters are invited to contact the editors via email to discuss their ideas and in preliminary form assess whether their contribution would be included.  Brief descriptions (300 words or less) of the main contents of their chapter, their methodology and about 200-word author(s)’ bio(s) highlighting their expertise in the area should be sent to both editors for initial consideration, before August 31, 2012.  The editors for this series will also attend at the Academy of Management’s annual conference in Boston, MA (USA) this August (2012) and might be available for face-to-face conversations by appointment.  Highly qualified chapter authors (in addition to the book series’ editorial board) are also expected to review anonymously some of the chapters submitted for this volume, as part of their contribution. 

Important deadlines

• Preliminary screening of ideas for chapters: September 30^th, 2012 (this is a “soft” deadline)
• Acceptance notifications or requests for revisions: about four weeks after full chapter manuscript is received
• Submission of full manuscripts: No later than December 31^st, 2012
• Publication of volume: about four months after final, revised chapters have been received by the volume editors; expected in early to mid-2013.

For more information on the Advanced Series in Management, please visit:
www.emeraldinsight.com/products/books/series.htm?id=1877-6361

…my new “Ba-B-JHR”!

Many times I’ve heard authors talk about their latest publication as “their baby” –in fact, I have used this metaphor several times, especially when I show the results of my efforts with colleagues or friends, after months of thinking, writing, analyzing, submitting manuscripts and responding to reviewers and editors.  Well, a few days ago, I received my newest “baby,” the “ba-BJHR” or Business Journal of Hispanic Research, first issue of its fifth volume, and I can hardly wait for opportunities to talk about it!

The funny thing is that I only wrote one page in this issue.  But I can tell you that I spent many more hours, energy and effort as Editor-in-Chief of this issue than I have for many other publications, even those in which I am single or first author.  Coordinating the efforts of twenty-six highly qualified individuals who so conscientiously wrote their manuscripts to be scrutinized by our editorial boards –another forty, highly qualified, well known individuals from industry and academia—and several ad-hoc reviewers is an experience in interdependence that I had never had before.  I sure hope that many conscientious managers and researchers will agree with us that this issue is full of helpful, relevant advice, distilled through rigorous methodologies.

I believe that this is one of the clearest ways in which NSHMBA distinguishes itself from other organizations that only have a yearly event or two to serve their stakeholders! And this is one that creates a tangible legacy for generations to come!

Let me share with you how this journal is different from other business publications.  First and foremost, most of the authors are highly trained individuals: you will notice in its index and Contributors section that all have finished graduate school and most –over 80%--have doctorates.  Secondly, there are five sections in this journal, three of them written mainly for the thoughtful manager who wants her or his practice to stay away from fads and “intellectual snake oil” –the Executive Articles, Summaries, and Book Reviews—and the other two sections –the Academic or Scholarly Articles and the Research in Progress—are written mainly for business scientists and researchers, who report their work in a more technical fashion.  All the content is intended to document how Hispanics in business have different sets of circumstances than the rest of our society, and provide information that will not just be rigorously distilled, but also highly usable.  Lastly, while the BJHR, like most journals, is distributed through libraries and electronic databases, it is also sent directly to NSHMBA’s sponsors and partners, both academic and industrial; to chapter presidents and to subscribers.  This increases the chances that it will be read and used actively, not just found occasionally.

Contributions

Have you ever noticed how some blue-collar workers seem to be more stressed than others?  Dr. Carol Howard and her co-authors from Oklahoma City University and from the U. of Tennessee -Knoxville surveyed not just workers but also their supervisors to examine whether ethnical matches made any difference on job stress and burnout.  They found measurable differences in stress levels, on burnout and on intent to turnover, but Hispanics appeared to be more vulnerable to ethnic mismatches than their Anglo counterparts; for that reason, they recommend a focus on job design for Anglo workers and on perceived ethnic fit for Hispanic workers.  But don’t take my word for it; read the full article on pp. 54-71 so you can draw your own conclusions!

You might also have noticed that some organizations have Diversity Management initiatives that are readily accepted, whereas other organizations struggle to find support for them, even among the employees that are expected to benefit.  Dr. Richard Herrera from Texas A&M in Texarkana and his collaborators from Our Lady of the Lake and UT-Dallas have been able to find empirical support for a number of relationships that link cultural descriptors with leadership preferences and ratings of diversity management.  Among their recommendations, Human Resource and other managers of people might do well by promoting a collectivistic rather than individualistic culture to increase the acceptability of their diversity practices.  Again, I invite you to read the full report on pp. 72-85.

Now, if you have been following the debates over illegal immigration and how the local and state debates may impact businesses –hey, your business might have experienced some of these concerns!—you will be interested in a case study that Dr. Mark D’Antonio and his colleagues from Northern Virginia Community College wrote.  This review of the legal precedents and justification for Affirmative Action programs, not just for compliance but from a competitive advantage perspective will put you –or your trainees—in the driver’s seat.  In addition to the case printed on pp. 86-97, there is a full set of teaching notes available from the Managing Editor of the BJHR; they are free for qualified instructors with a current subscription to the BJHR, but others who are not so close to NSHMBA may also purchase the teaching notes in electronic or print form.

Our Executive sections include articles on entrepreneurs and services offered to them, on academy-business collaborations and academic inequality, a couple of summaries that address differences on Hispanics’ happiness and job-related stress levels, in addition to two reviews of highly relevant books.  From well-known to recently minted academics from universities like Indiana, Tulane, UT-San Antonio, Saint Xavier, Quinnipiac, Marymount, and Clarion are present in these articles.

And, did I mention that NSHMBA Premier and Executive members have online access to the electronic version of the journal included as a benefit of their membership?  All you need to do is login to the NSHMBA site and continue your professional development through reading and internalizing the information in this multi-disciplinary effort by businesspersons and academics.  As always, I look forward to hearing from you via email or through my social networking pages (please remember to let me know that you’re a fellow NSHMBA member if you send me a connection request).

¡Hasta la próxima!

Are the business disciplines unreliable?

Have you ever felt that your MBA gives you more questions than answers? Let me give you an example; I look forward to hearing from you if you would like to share other examples with your NSHMBA colleagues; I promise to give you full credit for your idea!

As MBAs, most of us have spent between 1.5 and four years of our lives -as well as several thousands of dollars- applying for, studying through, and transitioning from a graduate program into a better, brighter future. Clearly, we expend all of these resources because we believe there is a lot of value in studying an MBA -and, indeed, there are studies out there that show that people with graduate degrees earn more money, promotions, and similarly desirable work outcomes for themselves and for their families!

Of course, these outcomes do not come about just by showing a new piece of paper to an employer; I do not know many MBA's who have obtained salary raises or promotions when they graduate while working for a particular company in the private sector. For part-time MBA students, newer responsibilities come their way as they learn new tools while studying the different business disciplines. Full-time MBAs are more likely to experience a radical shift in their work before and after the degree, but I know that there are many variations along these lines.

Our MBA classes give us access to knowledge that would be difficult to find on our own, in addition to providing us with access to social capital -our professors and fellow MBA students- and ultimately to a diploma that signals proficiency in the disciplines required for managing organizations.

Yet, from time to time, those classes might give us more questions than answers, as in the topic about the importance of money in motivating employees. If you have read chapter five in Jeff Pfeffer and Bob Sutton's book Hard Facts, Dangerous Half-Truths & Total Nonsense (2006, Harvard Business Press), you might be under the impression that using money as your main tool for motivating employees is extremely dangerous and very likely to lead you to disaster! Pfeffer and Sutton mount a very solid case against placing too much importance on money by reviewing studies and providing examples of companies that suggest that money (in particular pay-for-performance plans) should be used only under very limited conditions.

On the other hand, Sara Rynes and her colleagues state in a recent peer-reviewed article (Academy of Management Executive, 2002; 16(3): 92-102) that money is indeed a major source of motivation -perhaps the most important one that managers will have at their disposal to accomplish their job. They also marshal evidence from a variety of studies to support their thesis: money is the most important motivational incentive (page 100).

What gives? Obviously, the relationship between money and work motivation might be more complex than meets the eye. What do you think? What's your evidence that makes you think this way? How do you make sense of the fact that two highly respected sets of researchers seem to hold widely divergent views on the same--and extremely important issue! Clearly, this is not a trivial matter!

When asked about this dilemma, Regina Cuellar-Lee (President of the Indianapolis Chapter of NSHMBA) reflected on the fact that some jobs are so demanding on our personal lives that we expect higher pay than for other jobs that are more fulfilling. On the other hand, Mickey Quiñones (Associate Editor of NSHMBA's Business Journal of Hispanic Research) and I discussed how difficult it is for men to even think about a cut in pay -yet many women experience it frequently due to life events such as the arrival of children or the need to take care of relatives in difficult health conditions!

Maybe you have faced similar dilemmas in other business disciplines. I look forward to hearing from you via email, fax, snail mail or blog --the latter is preferred; just post a comment using the link below...