The Management, Spirituality, and Religion (MSR) special interest group of the Academy of Management announces the availability of up to six Promising Dissertation Awards available to doctoral candidates approaching completion of comprehensive exams and beginning the formulation of dissertation proposals.

First Prize: $2000.00 Second Prize: $1000.00 Up to Four Prizes: $ 750.00

The purpose of these awards is to assist doctoral candidates to develop quality dissertation designs that:

1. Are inclusive of and integrate each of the three elements: MANAGEMENT, RELIGION, AND SPIRITUALITY. (Only proposals that include insight from all three knowledge areas qualify).

2. Develop implications for "action"; that is, will help clarify practical,and concrete steps that managers within organizations can implement in their daily management to strengthen spirituality and religion in a full climate of freedom within the contemporary organization.

This emphasis reflects the interests of J. Robert Ouimet who has graciously provided funding for the program.

Purpose:

MSR is a young and emergent focus for scholarship within the Academy of Management. Therefore - MSR seeks to encourage quality doctoral dissertations as a springboard to continuing contributory research. Promising Theses Awards will provide doctoral candidates with assistance by:

1. Acknowledging the value of an intended dissertation design that has been competitively reviewed and nominated as promising by an international panel of scholars.

2. Helping a doctoral candidate to establish contact with researchers within MSR who share an interest in the proposed area of study, and who can assist with further coaching as the proposal unfolds.

3. Providing an opportunity (at the MSR Professional Development Workshop within the Annual Academy of Management Conference) to interact with a panel of scholars and other doctoral candidates to refine the theoretical and methodological foundations of a thesis proposal, and to explore action implications that can be highlighted in the research.

4. Providing modest seed funds for travel and/or preliminary research in the refinement of the proposal.

Submission Requirement:

No more than four pages providing an overview ("executive summary") setting forth the topic of interest, its relevance to MSR, links to interesting theoretical concerns, preliminary methodological approaches, and connection to managerial actions.

We are not seeking "refined" proposals. The purpose of the Promising Doctoral Dissertation Awards is to capture early ideation of promise, and subsequently to provide assistance in the refinement to assistant in quality scholarly efforts.

Expectations of Recipients:

1. Attend the Professional Development Workshop session for Promising Doctoral Dissertation Awards recipients the year the award is received.

2. Provide a briefing on the dissertation conceptualization at an MSR session devoted to "emergent research " within the MSR program the year the award is received. (Another opportunity for feedback and creative sharing).

3. Submit a paper proposal reporting on the completed research to MSR when the thesis is concluded.

Submission Deadline:

An electronic copy of the four page proposal must be sent to Judi Neal, by April 30, 2005. judi@spiritatwork.org.

Notification of awards granted with be made May 30, 2005 in order to allow recipients to make their travel plans to attend the Academy of Management in Hawaii from August 5-10, 2005. For information on the conference, go to http://meetings.aomonline.org/2005/.

The 2005 Selection Committee is composed of: Judi Neal, University of New HavenJerry Biberman, University of ScrantonYochanan Altman, London Metropolitan UniversityJody Fry, Tarleton State University