Academy of Management, Careers Division
EVERETT HUGHES AWARD, 2006
It gives me great pleasure to announce, as Chair of the Careers Division
for 2005-6, that the Everett Hughes Award has been awarded to Professor
Michael B Arthur, of Suffolk University.
The Hughes Award is made for research over a lifetime in the careers area,
and specifically for the adoption of an interdisciplinary perspective. It
is not awarded annually, but only when there is a nomination of sufficient
merit. It is the highest Award of the Division. The high level of merit
that the Award indicates is testified by the eminence of the three
previous recipients, Professors Ed Schein, Tim Hall and Lotte Bailyn.
The decision to make the Award followed Professor Arthur’s nomination by
Professor Maury Peiperl and others, and the consideration of that
nomination by the Hughes Award committee of Professor Sherry Sullivan,
Professor Rick Mowday, and Professor Gayle Baugh, who agreed unanimously
to recommend Professor Arthur for the Award. Their recommendation was
endorsed by the Executive of the Careers Division.
The Award will be presented during this year's Academy meeting in Atlanta,
specifically at the Business Meeting of the Careers Division, which will
be held at 5.30 pm on Tuesday 15 August in the Vancouver-Embassy room at
the Hyatt Hotel. All CAR members and other friends of Michael’s are
cordially invited to attend both this meeting and the Social Hour of the
CAR Division which follows immediately afterwards, where a toast to
Michael will be proposed. At the 2007 meeting Professor Arthur will be
invited to present a Hughes Award Lecture to the Careers Division.
The following appreciation of Michael Arthur is based on his nomination by
Professor Maury Peiperl.
PROFESSOR MICHAEL B. ARTHUR
Michael Arthur has been a clear leader in careers research, and in linking
this research to other fields, for some twenty-five years. He was an
early chair of the Careers Division and has consistently been an active
participant in its work. More importantly, over the course of his career
to date Professor Arthur has been one of the most creative and constantly
active scholars in the careers field, as demonstrated by his many
publications, including at least five of the central reference works on
careers (The Handbook of Career Theory, 1989; The Boundaryless Career,
1996; The New Careers, 1999; Career Frontiers, 2000; and Career
Creativity, 2002). These works are not only authoritative, but wide-
reaching and integrative, linking to sociology, psychology, counseling,
strategy, HR, and OB, among other fields. In fact, four of these five
books were, in essence, invitations to address career phenomena through a
wider interdisciplinary lens, and Michael’s role as editor helped in
crafting the lenses in each case. These books are published by publishers
of the highest international repute.
Over the years he has conducted numerous research projects and has
published in a wide range of refereed journals of the highest quality.
His conceptualization of “boundaryless careers” has become a major
touchstone and debating point within the discipline. He is widely admired
by others who themselves have excellent reputations. He is surely one of
the pre-eminent scholars of career management in the world. He has also
made major contributions in the related field of project-based enterprise.
Michael's work on careers has not only made him a noteworthy scholar and
mentor, but also a practitioner of change. His Intelligent Career Card
Sort (co-authored with Polly Parker) is an innovative tool for counseling
career owners in the knowledge economy. Its subjective approach, combined
with its strong theoretical base, have made it a widely used and powerful
technique for helping people to take ownership of their careers. This
body of work exemplifies the rare ideal of academic research producing
highly constructive effects on the lives and careers of practitioners.
As important as Michael’s intellectual contributions is the way in which
he conducts his research, and particularly his collaboration with, and
stimulation of, others. He is a natural enthusiast for the discipline,
indeed one of the founders of the Careers Division, who enthuses other
researchers and brings out the best in them. In his organization of
symposia and edited volumes, he has a wonderful knack of creating a sound
and imaginative overarching vision, and engaging excellent scholars from a
wide range of disciplines to complete and illustrate it. At the Academy,
he is always there, always contributing, always giving, at the heart of
the discipline he loves, both intellectually and socially. Many scholars’
own work has been energised and transformed by Michael’s inspiration and
collegiality. He is an excellent mentor to aspiring career scholars from a
variety of fields and, in particular, a variety of countries (New Zealand,
Japan, Denmark, The Netherlands, the UK, Canada, and France, to name a
few).
Michael’s openness and ability to link across many disciplines make him an
excellent ambassador for our field and our division, as well as an ideal
candidate for this award. He has taught around the world, published in a
wide variety of outlets and with a wide variety of co-authors, and
continues to be probably the most consistent voice for a broader
understanding of the changing nature of careers and work.
Kerr Inkson
Chair, Careers Division, Academy of Management, 2006
Professor of management, University of Otago, New Zealand
kinkson@business.otago.ac.nz