Abstract
The Journal of Management Education (JME) is widely recognized as one of the premier scholarly publications in the scholarship of teaching and learning dedicated to the management field. Distinguished by its high standards for publication and highly developmental reviews, JME publishes articles that exemplify the forefront of management education through cutting-edge pedagogy, paradigm-changing framework, and thought-provoking perspectives.
The prestigious Management and Organizational Behavior Teaching Society (MOBTS) Fritz J. Roethlisberger Memorial Award is bestowed annually to one article published in the JME in the previous year that is deemed to make the most significant contribution to the field of management teaching and learning. The award is named after Fritz Roethlisberger, who was a trailblazer of the human relations movement in the early 20th Century, whose pioneering work paved the way for modern-day management. Roethlisberger’s enduring legacy stems from his unwavering curiosity and persistence in inquiry about the impact of human interactions on workers’ performance. The Fritz J. Roethlisberger Memorial Award carries on this spirit of intellectual curiosity and groundbreaking research by recognizing and honoring those who continue to push the boundaries of management education.
As the chair of the Award Committee, I am pleased to announce that this year’s Fritz J. Roethlisberger Memorial Award goes to “The Effect of Gender Inequities in the Classroom and Beyond in U.S. Business Schools” by David Balkin, Len Treviño, and Caroline Straub (2022). In line with Roethlisberger’s intellectual legacy on the importance of interactions at work, the winning piece by Balkin, Treviño, and Straub cast light on the emergence of inequities in teaching activities through interactions with students and with peers. While research has documented workplace discrimination against female academics in terms of recruitment and advancement, less is explored in the dynamics of day-to-day teaching and learning experience. Drawing parallels to Roethlisberger and his colleagues’ groundbreaking discoveries on the influence of work relationships on employee performance at the Hawthorne factory, Balkin and colleagues argued that these inequities might discourage female educators, hindering their ability to reach their full potential, and eventually hurt the students who miss out on learning. The authors meticulously dissect the inequities experienced by female educators from three dimensions: student interactions, peer interactions, and student feedback. Moreover, departing from the previous work, the authors identified both big-picture suggestions and specific and incremental steps that institutions could take to mitigate inequity.
The committee felt that this article not only identifies and highlights critical challenges faced by female educators in day-to-day teaching activities but is also very timely to join the current societal reimagination of work. As the pandemic reshaped the way we construct and approach work, and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) issues are pushed to the forefront of higher education institutes, it is rather fitting that business schools and departments redesign the work of teaching and learning to eradicate, to the greatest extent possible, the inequities faced by female educators, and by educators from minoritized backgrounds broadly. While the acknowledgment of these broad challenges may not be novel, the authors contributed significantly and meaningfully to the discussion by identifying the areas of problems and articulating concrete steps and actions that business schools and departments could implement.
We also want to draw your attention to the runners-up to this year’s award. The first runner-up goes to Douglas Allen, Cynthia Fukami, and Dennis Wittmer (2022) for their article “A Course on the Future of Work: Building the Scaffold* While Standing on It.” The second runner-up goes to Scott Allen, David Rosch, and Ronald Riggio (2022) for their article “Advancing Leadership Education and Development: Integrating Adult Learning Theory.” Like Balkin and colleagues, both of these articles identified current challenges faced with management education. The former concerns the fourth industrial revolution and the future of work, where the authors proposed innovative course offerings to cover this topic. The latter touches on the topics of leadership education and advocates for an expansion in scope to include more learning orientations largely not taken up currently by management educators.
The award review process cannot possibly be completed without the devotion of the committee members. This year, the committee consists of 33 passionate management educators. They currently serve as faculty members across various esteemed institutions, and are united by their active involvement in both MOBTS and MOBTS conferences. It is noteworthy that many of these devoted committee members have been diligently reviewing submissions for this prestigious award for 3 years or more, a testament to their enduring commitment to the advancement of management teaching and learning. Their enduring engagement not only reflects their individual passion but also underscores the vibrant culture of the MOBTS community as a whole.
There were, in total, 34 articles from JME published during the year 2022 that were under consideration for the award this year. Each article is carefully reviewed by four reviewers who judged the article on the following seven criteria:
Originality/Innovative Nature of Article Content
Depth of Critical Thinking Encouraged by Article Content
Ease of Article Content to be Adopted into Courses
Potential of Article Content to Impact the Greatest Number of Students
Potential of Article Content to Reach Across Management Disciplines
Significance of Article Content in Making a Contribution to the Field of Management Education
Ability of Article Content to Make an Impact Both Today and in Future Years
I want to extend my most sincere gratitude to all of the 33 reviewers and thank them for the time and effort each of them has put in for review for the Roethlisberger Award this year:
Brittany Buis
Lisa Delise
Claudia Ferrante
Lynn Gribble
Demetria Henderson
Bahar Javadizadeh
Elyssebeth Leigh
Opal Leung
Carrie Messal
Jason Myrowitz
Jane Parent
Jane Parent
Craig Seal
Diana Smrt
Caitlin Sockbeson
Pooya Tabesh
Alex Tawse
Amanda Weirup
Todd Wiggen
Kevin Wynne
Amy Bridenthal
Mariya Gavrilova
Kelly Weeks
Beth Koufteros
Alexandra Dunn
Sejin Keem
Robert Bonner
Joe Liu
Gabriella Lewis
Tiffany Kriz
Jessica Waldrop
Juanita Forrester
Sarah Woodside
Finally, congratulations again to David Balkin, Len Treviño, and Caroline Straub for receiving the Roethlisberger Award and for the contribution they make to management education.
