Chris Worley

Chris G. Worley is a Research Scientist at the Center for Effective Organizations at the Marshall School of Business at the University of Southern California. He is a recognized leader in the field of organization development. Prior to coming to CEO, he was Director of the Master of Science in Organization (MSOD) program at Pepperdine University and remains a primary faculty member in that program. He was awarded the Luckman Distinguished Teaching Fellowship in 1997. Prior to Pepperdine University, Dr. Worley taught undergraduate and graduate courses at the University of San Diego, University of Southern California, and Colorado State University. He is currently serving as past chair for the Academy of Management’s Organization Development and Change Division.

He is also President of Monique Marketing and Management, a consulting firm specializing in strategic management. His consulting activities are complemented by more than fifteen years of management experience in academic, for-profit, and government organizations.

Dr. Worley has co-authored over 20 books, chapters, and articles. His most recent book, co-authored with Ed Lawler, is Built to Change. He also authored Integrated Strategic Change: How OD Builds Competitive Advantage in Addison-Wesley’s OD Series, and with Tom Cummings has co-authored four editions of Organization Development and Change, the leading textbook on organization development. His articles on strategic change and strategic organization design have appeared in the Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, Journal of Organization Behavior, the International Journal of Public Administration, the Project Management Journal. He has made several presentations to scholarly and practitioner associations such as the Academy of Management, OD Network, the Strategic Planning Forum, and the Conference Boards of the U.S. and Canada.

Individually, and in collaboration with other firms, his consulting clients include organizations in high technology (Microsoft, Oracle, Texas Instruments, Infonet, Honeywell, United Technologies, Data Line Service Company); health care (American Healthways, St. Joseph Health Care System, St. Anthony Hospital System; Zee Medical, Wesley Long Community Hospital, Merck, Farmer's Insurance Group); financial services (First Interstate Bank, Marine National Bank, Pacific Federal Savings and Loan), the public sector (Canadian Broadcasting Company, GTE of California, Southern California Edison, City of Los Angeles, City of Carlsbad) and natural resources (British Petroleum, Magma Copper Company, Canadian Hunter Exploration, Ltd.). The primary focus of his efforts in these organizations has been on strategy formulation and implementation, organization design, and the longitudinal evaluation of strategic change.

Dr. Worley received his Ph.D. in strategic management from the University of Southern California, an M.S. in organization development from Pepperdine University, an M.S. in environmental psychology from Colorado State University, and a B.S. from Westminster College. He is a member of the Strategic Management Society, the Academy of Management, and the Organization Development Network.