Signal Processing - September 2016 - 4

PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE
Rabab Ward | SPS President | rababw@ece.ubc.ca

The IEEE as "Bottom-Up" or "Top-Down" Management-
The choice Is Yours

he constitutional change amendment
currently proposed by the IEEE is a
matter of deep concern for so many
of us. It affects some key factors that are
critical to the future of the IEEE as we
know it, and for which we have respect,
devoting endless hours volunteering to
its betterment.
The IEEE, as a nonprofit association
run by volunteers, has very successfully
operated for many years as a "bottom-up"
confederation of technical Societies and
geographic units, collaborating together
in the spirit of our scientific and engineering culture. Where uniform direction
is needed or highest-level resource allocation is required, decisions have been
escalated up to higher-level boards, such
as the Technical Activities Board (TAB),
with representation from every IEEE Society and Council, or the Member and
Geographic Activities (MGA) Board,
with representation from every IEEE
geographic Region. If needed, further
escalation then occurs to the level of the
IEEE Board of Directors (BoD).
Contrast this with most for-profit
commercial companies, which operate
from the "top down." That is, corporate
executives, under guidance from their
BoD, direct strategy and operations.
Their employees, under various tiers of
management, are responsible for executing these operations and policies.
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MSP.2016.2588998
Date of publication: 2 September 2016

argue that the current board takes too
Increasingly, there have been signs
much time to run the IEEE. Opponents
that the IEEE BoD, for whatever reasons,
argue that more decisions should be delwants to become more of a top-down oregated to existing boards, like TAB and
ganization, concentrating greater power
MGA, and empower them to make resoat the top, and diminishing the role of its
lutions independently.
technical and geographic units. As eviMany of us joined the IEEE due to
dence, resources generated by Societies
the strength of its many diverse Societare increasingly redirected without Sociies. The combined effort of 45 technical
ety control for use elsewhere in the IEEE,
Societies and Counincluding for overhead
cils is responsible for
purposes. As a result,
It is hard to believe that
75-80% of IEEE revremaining Society rewe are asked to vote on
enues. To diminish
sources have either
this constitutional change the various Societies'
become stagnant or
before we know what the
visibility and role in
decreased, limiting
running the IEEE
what Societies can do
final new IEEE structure
is unwise and shortfor their members.
would be, and without
sighted. If volunteers
The latest move to
knowing the new bylaws
find that their ability
more top-down conthat will govern the IEEE
to control the destrol is occurring with
in the future.
tiny of their Society
this yea r's ballot,
is greatly reduced,
where members are
many volunteers will no longer feel that
asked to vote on a constitutional amendthey truly belong to a self-empowered
ment that will abandon dedicated seats
Society, and it will adversely affect the
for technical Societies and geographic
morale, motivation, and enterprising
units on the BoD in favor of a smaller
spirit of the volunteers.
number of board members meeting "diThe recent intense effort to change
versity" requirements that have not been
the IEEE's fundamental constitution is
defined and can be changed at any time
distracting us from solving our immediaccording to whomever happens to be
ate, high-priority challenges. Further, it
serving on the BoD then.
is hard to believe that we are asked to
Proponents of the change claim that a
vote on this constitutional change before
smaller board will be more nimble. Opwe know what the final new structure
ponents claim that the checks and balwould be and without knowing the new
ances of the widely represented board
bylaws that will govern the IEEE in the
that we have today are more important
future. The new bylaws are to be written
and have served us well. Proponents

IEEE SIgnal ProcESSIng MagazInE

September 2016

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Signal Processing - September 2016