The Alliance for Organizational Psychology: Connecting IWOP-P Societies Around the Globe

Sharon Glazer, The University of Baltimore, and D.J. O’Donnell, Independent Consultant

The Alliance for Organizational Psychology (henceforth, “Alliance”) is a federation of industrial, work, organizational, and personnel psychology (IWOP-P) societies, started by the International Association for Applied Psychology (IAAP), Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology (SIOP), the European Association for Work and Organizational Psychology (EAWOP), and the Canadian Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology (CSIOP). The aims of the Alliance are to

1. Advance the science and practice of IWOP-P internationally;
2. Develop more effective communication and collaboration among the federated societies;
3. Enhance the contributions of IWOP-P to global society through improvements to the quality of work life and the effectiveness of individuals and organizations.

In order to achieve these aims, in 2021, the Alliance established The Big Tent, a term borrowed from the language of the circus where all contributors, participants, and audience are not only watching with excitement for the presentation to unfold, but are, in fact, actively part of the experience. In the case of Alliance’s Big Tent, it is a network of industrial-, organizational-, work-, and personnel psychology-related societies and associations. People who join this group are typically representatives of their respective societies or associations.

Leadership of organizations that are members of The Big Tent are invited to

1. Share news, content (e.g., blogs) about activities, events, or current issues occurring in your association (e.g., an organizing committee for an international workshop to be held under the auspices of a group of network partners)
2. Distribute content to relevant parties in their organization
3. Engage with recent and timely societal topics via open dialogue, questions, and/or requests to the community as relevant
4. Ask globally relevant questions of the community to promote benchmarking
5. Exchange resources and seek advice from The Big Tent community and/or inquire about best practices
6. Participate in various Alliance initiative

The Alliance Big Tent Committee, chaired by Sharon Glazer and vice-chaired by D.J. O’Donnell, has been inviting leadership representatives from IWOP-P associations around the world to join. We are reaching out, one by one, to leadership to explain who and what we are and to ask them to identify the key person(s) from their association. We then invite those individuals to join the group’s electronic mailing list. If you are in a leadership role in your IWOP-P-related association/society and would like to join The Big Tent, please email Sharon Glazer at sglazer@ubalt.edu with the subject line “Alliance: The Big Tent.”

It is important to note that this is not an electronic mailing list for membership of associations but an electronic mailing list for leadership (or designees) of associations to exchange information.

Ultimately, by networking with associations and societies around the globe, we are hoping to simplify information access. The Big Tent serves to support members of each of the associations by being a platform for information exchange, whereby leadership from every society or association that is part of The Big Tent can share information onward to its constituents. Members of associations that have information to share with the community around the world should work through the society/association they are a member of to determine if the content is relevant for sharing with member organizations of The Big Tent.