Founder
As an organization designer and researcher, Dr. John Latham develops frameworks, methods, and tools to help leaders design and build organizations that create sustainable value in a dynamic, unpredictable world. Over the past 45+ years, he has worked with and in commercial, non-profit, educational, and government organizations in Europe, Asia, the Pacific Rim, the Middle East, and the Americas.
John has published multiple books and papers on organization design, including ReCreate the Organization You Really Want! and Organization Diagnosis, Design, and Transformation: A Baldrige User’s Guide. His work blends rigorous empirical research with decades of practical experience helping leaders design organizations that perform, adapt, and endure.
Practice
John's experience ranges from Vice President of a $1.3 billion in-vitro diagnostics manufacturer with operations in over 40 countries to Managing Partner of an international organization design consultancy to Founder and Managing Director of Organization Design Studio® Ltd., a global research, publishing, and education company.
Design projects have focused on a variety of organizational systems, including leadership, strategy, governance, customers, operations, suppliers and partners, workforce, organizational culture, and comprehensive scorecards.
He has worked with a variety of clients and industries including, AlloSource, ASTD, Boeing, British Airways, Colorado Springs Utilities, Defense Depot San Joaquin, U.S. Department of Energy, Kawasaki Robotics, Kisko Senior Living, Lockheed Martin, Long Beach Unified School District, Motorola Life Sciences, U.S. Navy NAVSEA Inspector General (IG), Poudre Valley Health System, TATA, The Ritz Carlton, U.S. Technology Resources, and VA Cooperative Studies.
Research
John is a two-time recipient of the Gryna Award from the American Society for Quality for “authoring the paper that made the largest contribution to the extension of understanding and knowledge of the philosophy, principles, or methods of quality management during the past year.”
2014 Gryna Award | Latham, J. R. (2013). A framework for leading the transformation to performance excellence part II: CEO perspectives on leadership behaviors, individual leader characteristics, and organizational culture. In Quality Management Journal (Vol. 20, Issue 3, p. 22). DOI: 10.1080/10686967.2013.11918354
2013 Gryna Award | Latham, J. R. (2012). Management system design for sustainable excellence: Framework, practices and considerations. In Quality Management Journal (Vol. 19, Issue 2, p. 15). DOI: 10.1080/10686967.2012.11918342
Organization Excellence Award Programs
John has served as judge and examiner for organizational excellence programs in North America, Asia, and the Middle East.
- Expert Assessor | Sheikh Khalifa Government Excellence Award Program | Prime Minister’s Office | Dubai, UAE | 2016
- Leadership Team | Baldrige Award Recipients (BAR) Consortium | 2006-2014
- Judge | Colorado Performance Excellence Award (Now Rocky Mountain Performance Excellence) | 2005-2008
- Judge | Robert W. Carey Organizational Excellence Award (U.S. Veterans Affairs Healthcare) | 2005 & 2006
- Honoured Assessor | JRD (TATA) QV Award based on the TATA Business Excellence Model (TBEM) | Mumbai and Kolkata, India | 2004 & 2005
- Examiner, Senior Examiner, Alumni Examiner, Site Visit Leader, and Facilitator of Examiner Training | Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award | National Institute of Standards and Technology | 1996-2005
- Chair Judges Panel and Lead Judge | U.S. Army Communities of Excellence Award | 2003 & 2004
- Founding Member of the Executive Committee and Chair, Board of Examiners | Hawaii State Award of Excellence | 1994-1997
Teaching
Dr Latham has served in a variety of roles in business education, from Visiting Professor at the University of Trieste, Italy, to Director of the Monfort Institute and Executive Professor of Management at Monfort College of Business, to Graduate Faculty at Boston University.
As a senior faculty member, he taught Executive MBA courses in the Global Leadership program at the University of Fredericton, Canada, including Systems Thinking and Organization Design, Global Trends and Strategy, and Leading Global Virtual Teams.
John has served on over 50 doctoral dissertation committees, including as a visiting professor at Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine and Pepperdine University Graduate School of Education and Psychology.
