SIOP Name Change Vote Begins!

This summer, the SIOP Executive Board introduced plans to hold a vote of the Society’s membership to determine whether or not SIOP should change its name. After taking member comments into consideration via the SIOP Exchange, the board has made the decision to begin the first step of the voting process October 1.

The vote on whether to change SIOP’s name will be composed of two steps:
 
1. Decide on an alternative name: First, members will take part in a vote between three popular alternative names to SIOP. This vote will continue through October 30.
2.  Vote between the alternative and SIOP: Second, members will take part in the name change vote between the winner of the first vote and the current name. This final vote will take place December 4 through January 4.
 
After consideration of proposed alternatives and previous internal discussions, the board decided on three alternatives to be included in this first vote: 

The Society for Organizational Psychology (TSOP)
Society for Work Psychology (SWP)
Society for Work and Organizational Psychology (SWOP)

Voting will be done online, and SIOP members will receive e-mails detailing how to submit their ballots for this first vote. Votes will be cast on SIOP’s voting site here.
 
In this initial vote, members will be choosing their favorite alternative name to SIOP. This is the name that will continue to the final vote against SIOP. To avoid a situation the Society has had in the past where no name received a majority of the vote, we are holding this first vote as a sort of primary election that will determine which alternative name is the most popular and therefore suitable to face SIOP in December. This way, the final vote will consist of only two names, SIOP and the winner of the first vote, so that one of these names is likely to receive a majority vote.
 
Make sure your opinions are heard on whether the Society should keep the name SIOP or change the name once and for all: Vote!
 

FAQs
 
Are we voting on the acronym too?
The acronyms were considered along with the society name, so a vote for one is a vote for both. Although "Society for Organizational Psychology" is simple and direct, many members are uncomfortable with SOP as an acronym, so the board consciously chose to put "The Society for Organizational Psychology (TSOP)" on the ballot.

Who gets to vote?
All voting members (Fellows, Members, Retired Fellows, and Retired Members) of SIOP may vote on the name change.

How do I vote?
Voting members will receive e-mails from SIOP detailing how and where to vote.

When will the voting take place?
Voting for this first election will begin October 1 and continue through October 30. The final vote between SIOP and the winner of the current election will take place December 4 through January 4.

When will we know the results?
Results of the runoff will be announced in early November, and results of the final name change vote will be announced in mid January. Check www.siop.org and the SIOP Exchange in the coming weeks for updates.

To read more about the name change and the process, read the following Exchange posts published voe rhte last few months:

Last Chance to Comment on Possible SIOP Name Change!

From the Executive Board: Should SIOP Change Its Name?

Proposed SIOP Name Change FAQs 1

SIOP Name Change FAQs 2-What is Involved in a Name Change?

SIOP name Change FAQs 3-Why Organizational Psychology?

Comments

[MAinIO]

I am very disappointed associate members can't vote

if there is one thing about SIOP that really bugs me is that members with "only" an MA/MS are treated like second class citizens.

[Alyssa]

I am disappointed that students cannot vote.

[Steve Wunder]

While we HOPE the acronym for the Society for Organizational Psychology will be TSOP, the reality is that SOP will likely be used. It will be an embarrassment.

[Howin Tsang]

I was intrigued by the previous post on shared acronyms, so I decided to look into whether these might develop into a real problem for SIOP.

Here are the rankings for the major sites representing the current SWP, SWOP, and SIOP according to Alexa.com (Internet traffic ranking site)

siop.org (SIOP):
354,764 - Alexa Traffic Ranking
164,149 - United States Ranking

themilitant.com (SWP):
794,755 - Alexa Traffic Ranking
194,100 - United States Ranking

swop-usa.org (SWOP): 29,463,375 - Alexa Traffic Ranking
Unranked - United States Ranking

swop-usa.org receives insignificant amounts of traffic compared to SIOP.

While the Socialist Workers Party is competitive in traffic rankings, one of the it's largest sites themilitant.org doesn't show on the first 10 pages of a google search for SWP.

This is not to say that shared acronyms won't be a problem for sure. But based on current trends, it looks like SIOP members won't have too much to be worried about as far as google searches go.

[Richard N. Landers]

I thought it might be a useful exercise to list the other organizations and techniques that share these acronyms. My favorites are "SWP: Socialist Workers Party" and "SWOP: Sex Workers Outreach Project." See this link: http://bit.ly/HcjNH