The change occurring around us is dramatic and tests the very fundamental assumptions of how we work: from thinking big to thinking small, from economies of scale to diseconomies of scale, from functional leadership to inter-functional leadership and avoidance of functional silos, from vertical to horizontal organizations, and from nationalistic economies to borderless economies. These changes and many others can have an enormous direct and indirect affect on our business and government organizations, and our research and educational institutions.

Change may be managed with or without finesse. Joel Barker, in his delightful book on paradigms, highlights some rather sobering, misguided examples of incorrectly anticipating change: (a) "The phonograph...is not of any commercial value..." (Thomas Edison remarking on his own invention to his assistant Sam Insull, 1880); (b) "Flight by machines heavier than air is unpractical and insignificant, if not utterly impossible" (Simon Newcomb, a celebrated astronomer, 1902); (c) "Sensible and responsible women do not want to vote" (Grover Cleveland, 1905); (d) "There is no likelihood man can ever tap the power of the atom" (Robert Millikan, Nobel Prize winner in Physics, 1920); and (e) "There is no reason for any individual to have a computer in their home" (Kenneth Olson, President of Digital Equipment Corporation, 1977). In each of these instances some very bright and capable people failed to see, at least for the moment, what the winds of change could, would, and should entail.

I am excited about the possibility of change, and about a new and even stronger future for the Institute. The heritage of the Institute, and particularly the strength of its past leadership, position the Institute well to deal with and be advantaged by these winds of change.

We must be guided by our heritage, but need to be careful that we don't get caught in the limitations of our past. The Decision Sciences Institute is strong, with over 3,500 members from over 33 countries, with 6 regional organizations: Midwest, Northeast, Southeast, Southwest, West, and our most recently formed, Asia-Pacific. The hallmarks of the Institute bode well to meet the challenges and changes before us. The interdisciplinary nature of the Institute could never be more timely. The holistic view of academic and professional responsibilities that has long been a strength of the Institute is increasingly beneficial. The diversity of membership of the Institute, representative of academic and industrial organizations both large and small, affords opportunities for sharing and synergy. The scholarly exchange that has been the hallmark of meetings and publications serves to enable a constructive forum. Finally, the strength of the Institute is its membership, its people, as is so often said of every strong organization. I know of no other organization that has such a long-standing heritage of collegial engagement through its activities and programs.

The Institute has enjoyed a heritage of excellence at its annual meetings. Ernie Houck is working hard to put together what promises to be an excellent meeting this year in Boston. Lori Franz is finalizing plans for the program structure for our 1996 Annual Meeting in Orlando. I am pleased to report that David Olson has just agreed to serve as program chair for our 1997 Annual Meeting in San Diego. The annual meetings continue to provide the forum in which we see our heritage at work.

The heritage of the Institute helps to position us for the future, but we also need to be clear about our future priorities, plans and objectives as we proceed ahead. This year the Board has affirmed the following five priorities that I believe are of somewhat equal importance for the Institute: (1) increased visibility of the Institute in promoting interdisciplinary research, instruction and service initiatives within the decision sciences and related fields; (2) increased attention to the Institute's role in improving instructional competencies within the Decision Sciences; (3) increased use of advanced technology within the programs, communications and workings of the Institute; (4) increased internationalization of the Institute; and (5) continuous improvement of the functioning of all activities of the Institute. Future ``President's Letters'' will address these areas further, but for now I would like to expand just a bit on each priority.

We need to press farther regarding the interdisciplinary nature of the Institute. This hallmark must be made an increasingly visible reality within our meetings and publications, and in our individual research and instructional agendas. We need to continue to nurture the quality of the focus of all program tracks, including those that are of a more disciplinary nature, and search for mechanisms within our programs to engage interdisciplinary perspectives within and between these tracks.

The Institute has long nurtured and supported innovative education initiatives. It was one of the first professional organizations to develop an award for instructional innovation. Annual meetings of the Institute have consistently provided informative Innovative Education track presentations and workshops. More needs to be done. This year Lori Franz, as track chair of the Innovative Education Track, is working hard to encourage high quality sessions. Rodger Collons and Chuck Bonini have been working with Lori to put together an MBA Integrative Core Conference to be held on Sunday, November 19th, just prior to the start of the Institute's Annual Meeting in Boston. This program promises to be excellent. Scott Cowen, the current president of AACSB and dean of the Weatherhead School of Management, will provide the keynote address of the program. Faculty from several universities, including Denver, Harvard, Indiana, Michigan and Wharton, among others, will be sharing their experiences related to revision of their MBA programs. I will be sharing more about this program in the next Decision Line.

Computer and information technologies are changing rapidly and drastically affecting the nature of our work and communication. We need to be sure that research and educational initiatives are focusing on this moving frontier. We also need to further the use of these technologies in the workings of the Institute. Clive Sanford, who will be stepping down as the Institute's Coordinator of Computer Services, has been extraordinarily helpful in developing the Institute's systems. We now need to build upon these accomplishments to realize wider use of these technologies at both the Institute and regional levels. This year the Board has organized an Advanced Information Technology Ad Hoc Committee, chaired by Bill Perkins, that will be providing input to the Institute as to where and how information technologies can be usefully expanded.

Internationalization of the Institute continues to be a priority. The recent organization of the Asia-Pacific Region attests to what can be accomplished here. I am very pleased that Robert Markland, of the University of South Carolina, has accepted the responsibility of Coordinator of Global Development for the Institute. I look forward to his leadership in helping us to plan and realize progress in the area of internationalization. Benito Flores has put together an excellent program for an international meeting in Puebla, Mexico, in June of this year. The Asia-Pacific Region will hold their first annual meeting in Hong Kong in January, 1996. Additional plans are in the works for other meetings elsewhere in the world.

A fifth and final priority involves the need for the Institute to continually improve the quality of its processes; improvements that are geared toward continually increasing the value of what the Institute provides its membership. A number of Committee and Home Office charges are specifically designed toward this end. In addition, this year all committees will be receiving guidelines that were developed by the Board to help assure that we are all working together in an effective and timely manner.

All committees have been asked to consider these priorities as they work to accomplish their charges. Hopefully, these priorities will serve to provide the glue that enables accomplishments that work together to move the Institute forward.

The objectives that the Board has agreed upon, which I trust are consistent with these priorities, follow on the next page.

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1995-96 BOARD OBJECTIVES

Alpha Iota Delta

1. Explore and develop strategies that can be productive in establishing and promoting active Alpha Iota Delta chapters. 2. Involve the officers of the Institute to help further growth of Alpha Iota Delta and to initiate Alpha Iota Delta chapters within their own school and other nearby schools. 3. Begin publishing an electronic form of Decision Forum, the national journal of Alpha Iota Delta. 4. Continue the development and implementation of the database for Alpha Iota Delta, assuring its compatibility with other systems and databases used within the Institute.

Advanced Information Technology

1. Prepare a high level information technology plan (both short and long view) for the Institute, developed in consideration of mission, marketing plan, programs, publications and necessary supporting activities in the growth and conduct of the Institute.

Home Office

1. Develop improved system and procedures related to member dues notification and collection. 2. Explore ways to shorten the accounts payable process cycle up through and including receipt and accounting of monies involved.

Computer Services

1. Bring to closure the implementation of the new Home Office database system, demonstrating its capability, assuring appropriate recovery procedures, and providing interface capability with collateral systems. 2. Prepare documentation that describes the structure and capability of the new Home Office database to enable effective use in Institute initiatives. 3. Realize effective use of the new database to support regional activities. 4. Provide prioritized plan regarding subsequent development of the Home Office data base system drawing upon input from Institute committee leadership.

Development

1. Develop a plan of action related to trends in business education and research that prioritizes areas of opportunity for the Institute. 2. Review the current marketing plan and the þproductsþ of the Institute in light of the assessment of trends in business education and research and make recommendations for improvement. 3. Build upon the strength of the Institute as an interdisciplinary institute exploring ways to engage multiple disciplines actively within Institute activities and programs.

Doctoral Student Affairs

1. Monitor and report on the success of the 1995 Doctoral Student Consortium and the 1995 Doctoral Dissertation Competitionþmaking recommendations for improvements. 2. Explore the possibility of setting up five- and ten-year "reunion" sessions for doctoral consortium participants. 3. Produce a Decision Line column devoted to issues of importance to doctoral students. 4. Explore ways to disseminate program content from the Doctoral Student Consortium to the regions and the membership of the Institute.

Innovative Education

1. Continue the coordination of the 1995 Instructional Innovation Award Competition, and begin the process for coordinating the 1996 competition. 2. Review the award evaluation guidelines and all processes related to the competition and recommend any necessary changes that would be beneficial. 3. Create opportunities for improved dissemination and publication of instructional innovations by members of the Institute. 4. Work with AACSB to maximize Institute visibility with regard to Innovative Education initiatives. 5. Define further the purpose, process, and criteria involved with the proposed International Instructional Innovation Award. 6. Monitor and report on the success of the Integrative MBA conference sessions at the 1995 annual meeting in Boston and make recommendations for 1996.

International Activities

1. Develop a long-term strategy for internationalization of the Institute. 2. Develop proposal guidelines for future international meetings consistent with the Institute's international strategy. 3. Continue the development of the newly formed Asia-Pacific region of the Institute. 4. Continue the possible development of a European region. 5. Evaluate and report about the success of the upcoming meeting in Puebla, Mexico, in June, 1995. 6. Explore other possible meeting sites throughout the world as opportunities arise and as are consistent with the strategic plan for international activities. 7. Produce an ``International Activities'' column in Decision Line to provide membership with ongoing information related to international initiatives of the Institute.

Member Services

1. Explore ways of increasing the membership of the Institute, and enhancing services to existing members of the Institute. 2. Continue to gather information from the membership to explore ways to meet members' needs and maximize the member's benefit of Institute programs and activities. 3. Continue to firm up the detailed plan of actions for the Campus Representative Program. 4. Explore how the Institute can organize or facilitate special interest groups for people interested in specific interdisciplinary topics.

Programs and Meetings

1. Explore and recommend new tracks/topics for future annual meetings of the Institute. 2. Conduct and organize early planning of annual meetings that can be helpful to shape the vision and scope of future annual meetings. 3. Explore and improve the current process, procedures and documentation for planning and organizing the annual meetings of the Institute. 4. Increase the number of high visibility sessions at annual and regional meetings of the Institute. 5. Consider, select, and further refine high priority annual meeting initiatives that can benefit the membership.

Publications

1. Continue to promote and strengthen Decision Sciences' stature as a major journal in the broadly defined field of decision sciences. 2. Continue to expand special columns within Decision Line that are informative to membership. 3. Continue to explore uses of information technology in the publications of the Institute that can serve to widen and improve the dissemination of these publications. 4. Explore the possibility of devoting one issue of Decision Sciences annually to issues related to the practice/application/demonstration of decision science (i.e., Decision Sciences Practice), or to excellence in instructional competencies in the area of decision science (i.e., Decision Sciences Education). 5. Continued high quality of the review process and reviewer pool for papers submitted to Decision Sciences. 6. Continue to explore the possibilities of having special issues of the journal in the areas that are most strategic to sustained growth and viability of the Institute.

Regional Activities

1. Continued strength of regional programs and activities of the Institute. 2. Improved communication and sharing between the Institute and its regional organizations to the benefits of programs and activities at all levels.

Fellows