Proposed change to Article IV, Section 2(h) of the Constitution of the Entrepreneurship Division
At the 2025 ENT Division MidWinter Meeting, held in January of 2025, the Division Executive Team had a long and productive conversation about the election of RALs for the Division, and the decision-making mechanism used to determine how many RALs are elected for any given election ballot. It was determined and approved that changes were needed. As a result, the following change is proposed. Below, you will find the existing language that exists in the ENT Division Constitution, and the proposed change (underlined). Finally, the rationale for this proposed change is included to help aid the members in their decision-making. The proposed change, if approved, will become effective after the 2025 Annual Meeting, held in Copenhagen.
Existing description--
Representatives-at-Large will be elected by the membership to serve a three-year term based on one per 250 members up to a Division membership of 2500, and one additional Representative-at-Large per 500 members for membership in excess of 2500, to a total number established at the annual meeting by the current year membership list provided by the Academy of Management. The purpose of the Representatives-at-Large position is to represent the general membership in the activities of the Division. The Representatives-at-Large will report to the Chair. Representatives-at-Large duties include serving as line officers to lead committees or committee clusters, serving as committee members, fulfilling formal ambassadorial duties on behalf of the Division, as well as performing such other duties as may be assigned by the Chair or as provided in the Constitution.
Proposed description (change is underscored below) --
There shall be twelve (12) elected Representatives-at-Large on the Executive Committee of the Division, each serving a three-year term. To ensure staggered terms and continuity, four (4) members of the ENT Division shall be elected by the membership each year as Representatives-at-Large. The purpose of the Representatives-at-Large position is to represent the general membership in the activities of the Division. The Representatives-at-Large will report to the Chair. Representatives-at-Large duties include serving as line officers to lead committees or committee clusters, serving as committee members, fulfilling formal ambassadorial duties on behalf of the Division, as well as performing such other duties as may be assigned by the Chair or as provided in the Constitution.
Change will be effective subsequent to the end of the 2025 Academy of Management Meeting, Copenhagen.
RATIONALE FOR THE PROPOSED CHANGE:
There are three primary reasons that the ENT Division Executive team voted to approve this proposed change:
1) 1. The change requested is designed to create a more standardized and straightforward number of RALs that are supporting the Division membership and the Division Leadership team. With the existing approach, the number of RALs would often vary, based simply on the number of members in the Division. In some years, if the number of members in the Division would increase, an RAL would be added. Then, if the Division fell below one of the cutoff values, we would lose an RAL, and of course with attrition could only nominate one or two RALs for that next cycle.
2) 2. This "back-and-forth" election of different numbers of RALs does not allow for a consistent assignment of RALs to support the membership, committee assignments, or work related to the Leadership Team itself. Likewise, the institutional memory so critical for ENT Division activities is sometimes lost.
3) 3. This proposed change allows for the ENT Division to be in line with other large AoM Divisions, which also elect a specific number of RALs. As an example, the OB Division (the largest Division within the AoM) specifically elects nine RALs, who serve three year staggered terms.
The marked-up version in the ENT Division Constitution is attached for your review.
Based upon the rationale above, the ENT Division Executive Team requests that the membership vote to APPROVE the proposed change.
Sincerely,
JonC
Jon C. Carr
Past Division Chair
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Jon Carr
Distinguished Professor
North Carolina State University
Raleigh NC
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