Laurie Ford has a PhD in Operations Research Engineering. She works with Project Managers, Program Directors, and process design professionals to apply practical network-based tools that yield high performance and low cost outcomes.
Dr. Ford is a consultant and author specializing in project, program, and process changes including design, management, and implementation and has consulted with defense, energy, utilities, and business organizations. She is now working with people engaged in closing the nuclear fuel cycle.
Laurie combines the logical discipline of Engineering with the behavioral principles of Social Sciences to work with both the system and human aspects of change and management. The result is a practical approach to implementing plans and changes efficiently with the collaboration of operational and technical staff and non-technical user-customers.
Her Live-Project consulting workshops design the Performance Networks that coordinate key players across silos and hierarchies. The change implementation results from these workshops are measured in increased efficiency, productivity, and effectiveness with reductions in costs, re-work, and missed deadlines.
Laurie’s newest book, with her co-author husband Jeffrey Ford, is “The Four Conversations: Daily Communication that Gets Results”. It is a practical approach to effective workplace communication, and was awarded the Best Management Book of 2009 by CEO-Read.
A consultant for over 25 years with energy, utility, defense, manufacturing, and business entities, Dr. Ford has supported personnel at all levels in applying good communication and collaboration practices to successfully accomplish long term objectives.
EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND
Ph.D., Operations Research, 1975, State University of New York at Buffalo. Network, circuit, and system design and analysis; integrated systems and process networks.
M.S., Industrial Engineering, 1973, State University of New York at Buffalo. Human factors engineering and design of human-machine systems.
B.A., Psychology, 1970, State University of New York at Buffalo. Human learning, understanding, and communication; social sciences and philosophy.
CLIENT ORGANIZATIONS, Partial List
Government Agencies
US Department of Energy, Germantown Maryland and Oak Ridge Tennessee
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
Ohio Department of Development
Ohio Department of Human Services
Columbus Department of Public Utilities
US Naval Air Center, China Lake /Pt. Mugu
Indian Health Service, Tempe AZ
Business/Industry
Intel Corporation, Portland OR; Phoenix AZ; Albuquerque NM; Santa Clara CA
Martin Marietta Corporation, Oak Ridge Tennessee
Mead Fine Paper, Chillicothe Ohio
MT Business Technologies, Mansfield OH
Health Care and Associations:
Ohio Hospital Association
Ohio State Medical Association, Columbus Ohio
Ohio State University Medical Center
Nationwide Childrens Hospital, OH
Columbus Health Department, OH
Riverside Methodist Hospital, OH
American College of Emergency Physicians, Central Ohio
PUBLICATIONS, Partial list
The Four Conversations: Daily Communication that Gets Results, Jeffrey Ford and Laurie Ford, Berrett-Koehler Publishing Inc., August 2009. .Awarded Best Management Book of 2009 by CEO Read.
Decoding Resistance to Change, Jeffrey Ford and Laurie Ford., Harvard Business Review, April 2009.
Deadline Busting: How to Be a Star Performer in Your Organization, Jeffrey Ford and Laurie Ford, iUniverse publishing, 2005.
PUBLICATIONS IN REFEREED JOURNALS, Partial List
Resistance to Change: The Rest of the Story, Ford, J.D., Ford, L.W., and D’Amelio, A., Academy of Management Review, Vol. 33, No. 2, 2008.
Conversational Profiles: A Tool for Altering the Conversational Patterns of Change Managers, Ford, J.D. and Ford, L.W., The Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 2008.
Resistance and the Background Conversations of Change, Ford, J.D., Ford, L.W., and McNamara, R., Journal of Organizational Change Management, 2002.
Conversations and the Authoring of Change, Ford, J.D. and Ford, L.W., in The Manager as a Practical Author, David Holman and Richard Thorpe (Eds), Sage Publishing, 2002.
The Role of Conversations in Producing Intentional Change in Organizations, Ford, J.D. and Ford, L.W., Academy of Management Review, Vol. 20 (1995), 541-570. Awarded Best Published Paper by the Organizational Communication Division of the Academy of Management.
Logics of Identity, Contradiction, and Attraction and Change, Ford, J.D. and Ford, L.W., Academy of Management Review, Vol. 19 (1994), 756-785.
PERFORMANCE-NETWORK PROGRAMS, Partial List
Project Management: Managing a Performance network of Agreements and Deliverables, Waste Management Symposia, 2011.
Public Communication: Engaging Citizens in the Nuclear Renaissance, Waste management Symposia, 2011.
Other Programs on Performance Networks with:
- Project Management Institute, Ohio Chapter
- Masters level program for the Fisher College of Business, The Ohio State University, now integrated into curriculum.
- Healthcare Financial Management Association’s CFO Exchange .
- Healthcare Financial Management Association’s Annual National Institute
- Association for the Management of Organization Design
- National Environmental Health Association
- Department of Dfense Conversion Reinvestment and Technology Transfer Workshop
- Operations Research Society of America and The Institute for Management Science
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
1976 to present. Organization design and management consultant with Industry, Government, (Federal, State, County, and City), Healthcare and Associations. Author of academic and professional journal articles and books for practicing managers.
1971 to 1975. Engineering Graduate Research and Teaching Assistant, State University of New York at Buffalo.
l969 to 1971. Computer Systems Programmer/Analyst, Hartford Insurance Group.