A Message from Your President Jan 96

One of my personal goals for SIOP is to increase our level and quality of interaction with I/O psychologists around the world. U.S. psychologists, including those of us in the I/O domain, tend to be insular in our "implicit theories" about what is important and useful in psychological science and professional practice. This is due to a number of factors, including our sheer numbers and correlated volume of publication and presentations, our limited language facility, and some plain old "Not Invented Here" bias. We in the I/O area do have some upcoming opportunities to remedy some of our parochialism and I want to encourage you to take advantage of them.

I recently returned from Washington, DC, where I attended a meeting of the Scientific Program Committee for the 1998 International Congress of Applied Psychology (ICAP). The ICAP is the official meeting of the International Association of Applied Psychology (IAAP) and is held every four years. The 1998 ICAP will be the 24th one and will be held in San Francisco from August 9 - 14. The 24th ICAP will be the first one ever held in the United states. The past two have been in Kyoto (1990) and Madrid (1994), both of which I had the pleasure to attend. APA will be the host organization for the 1998 ICAP and its staff are coordinating the planning of the Congress. The 1998 APA convention will also be held in San Francisco from August 14 -18. Note that Friday, August 14 will be an overlap day for the two meetings.

SIOP members are also well represented in the planning process for the 1998 ICAP. Lyman Porter is the chair of the Scientific Program Committee. Division 1, Organizational Psychology, is the largest of the 13 divisions of the IAAP and is represented on the Program Committee by Richard Campbell, Fred Fiedler, Susan Jackson, and Virginia Schein. I represent APA's Board of Scientific Affairs on the Program Committee. Edwin Fleishman ahd Harry Triandis, both former Presidents fo the IAAP, are on the ICAP Organizing Committee and are ex officio members of the Program Committee.

The 1998 Congress in San Francisco is shaping up to be an excellent opportunity for U.S. SIOP members to meet and hear I/O psychologists (and applied psychologists in other specialty areas) from many countries. The ICAP is a meeting well attended by applied psychologists from every part of the globe. At the 1994 Madrid meeting there were over 3000 in attendance from dozens of countries. A number of keynote and invited speakers have already been confirmed and some symposia have also been arranged for San Francisco. The international flavor of the Congress is reinforced by the requirement that each symposium must include participants from at least three different countries.

The program plans for the Organizational Division, the one most central to the interests of most SIOP members, include symposia, poster sessions, debates, panel discussions, and conversation hours, plus the Division program committee hopes that there will be innovative program submissions that do not neatly fit into the usual categories of conference sessions. The deadline for program submissions is May 1, 1997. The Call for Papers may be obtained from the ICAP Congress Secretariat, APA Office of International Affairs, 750 First Street, NE, Washington, DC 20002. We hope to be able to have a direct mailing sent to SIOP members but this is not yet confirmed. In the near future (as I write this, but hopefully a "done deal" by the time you read this), we also plan a link from the SIOP World Wide Web site to the APA's ICAP Web site to allow for electronic availability of ICAP materials. If you have any questions about the program for the Organizational Psychology division, contact Dick Campbell, Susan Jackson, or Virginia Schein.

The summer of 1997 also presents an opportunity for U.S. I/O psychologists to interact professionally with applied psychologists from all of the Americas in Mexico City. From July 27 to August 2, 1997 will be held the First Regional Congress of Psychology for Professionals in the Americas. Congress organizers have told me that they are especially interested in program submissions from I/O psychologists, although this Congress is also directed broadly at applied psychology of all types and forms. The submission deadline for this meeting is January 20, 1997 and the organizing Committee can be contacted by email at Congreso@datasys.com.mx and at http://www.alnet.com.mx/imifap/ on the World Wide Web. Our international contacts often are in Europe or in Asia so this Congress may be an excellent chance to become acquainted with our colleagues in Central and South America.

Finally, a bit further afield for most of us but a more focused meeting than either of the above, the Second Australian Industrial and Organizational Psychology Conference will be held in Melbourne from June 27 - 29, 1997. Submissions can include posters and symposia and are due on February 3, 1997. More information can be obtained about conference registration from the Conference Coordinator, Australian I/O Psychology Conference, Australian Psychological Society, PO Box 126, Carlton South, Victoria, 3053 Australia; email: CHERRY@apsnho.mhs.compuserve.com; FAX: 61 3 9663 6177. Inquiries about program submissions can be made to Dr. Phyliss Tharenou, Department of Business Management, Monash University, PO Box 197, Caulfield East, Victoria, 3145 Australia; FAX: 61 3 9903 2718; email: phyliss.tharenou@BusEco.monash.edu.au.

I hope that many of you will be able to participate in these meetings and help to widen SIOP's collective vision of the science and practice of I/O psychology. Safe traveling!