Call for Submissions
Organization Development and Change Division (ODC)
2026 Call for Professional Development Workshop (PDW) Proposals
Division PDW Chair: Ninna Meier, Aalborg University
The Organization Development and Change Division (ODC) invites your Professional Development Workshop submissions for the 2026 Annual Meeting, with all PDWs to take place Friday, 31 July through Sunday, 2 August 2026. We seek proposals that address the current disruptive times and contemporary challenges while contributing to positive changes within organizations, between organizations, and in communities.
As a division, our focus is on how change is developed, led, maintained and spread in and across organizations. We are particularly interested in exploring change in and across organizations in complex institutional contexts, for instance turbulent environments, evolving technologies, emerging social dynamics, or internal organizational pressures. At this year’s meeting, hosted in the vibrant city of Philadelphia, a place long associated with renewal, transformation, and even revolution, our collective exploration of what drives and sustains change will be a fitting tribute.
When framing your PDW submission we invite you to consider questions such as the following:
- How do managers, workers, clients, and community members engage with societal and organizational change under conditions of extreme uncertainty?
- How can seemingly small-scale everyday actions of people develop and build momentum as emergent change over time?
- How can leaders, managers, workers, clients and community members engage effectively in coordinated collective action, using differences as a valued resource?
- What is the role of cross-organizational relationships for achieving sustainable change?
- What is the significance of collective prospective sensemaking for engaging in organization change for the possible futures people can envision?
- How can leaders and managers best respond to contemporary challenges and trends by using new and different approaches to change?
Submissions to the ODC Division may address these topics—as well as other topics —at the macro, meso, or micro levels of action.
PDWs may take the form of workshops, town hall meetings, debates, cafes, breakout sessions, round tables, research incubators – or new forms you may envision. We are open to a range of different topics and formats that will interest the ODC community. For more information see the Academy guidelines on PDWs.
Successful proposals will be interactive, create an engaging environment, provoke new ideas and learning, and integrate cutting-edge scholarship with applied ideas, processes, and practices. Proposals should be inclusive of participants from a variety of perspectives and backgrounds.
To submit to the ODC Division, please review the Submission Guidelines and refer to the section on information for Professional Development Workshops. The submission deadline is Tuesday, 13 January 2026 at 17:00 ET (UTC-5/GMT-5), but earlier submissions are strongly encouraged. Before writing your submission, we also encourage you to review the ODC Division domain and mission statements. Please contact the PDW Chair, Ninna Meier, with any questions about PDW submissions: [email protected]
Finally, we encourage all those submitting PDW proposals to sign up as reviewers for ODC! We warmly thank all those who contribute to our community and the quality and vibrancy of our program by acting as reviewers for the ODC Division.
We look forward to seeing you in Philadelphia!