University of Southern California

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Thomas Cummings
Chair of the Department of Management and Organization & Professor of Management and Organization

USC Marshall School of Business
Los Angeles, CA 90089-0808

Phone: 
213-740-0733
tcummings@marshall.usc.edu
Education: 
PhD, UCLA; MBA, BS, Cornell University

Overview

Tom Cummings is a leading expert in designing high-performing organizations and strategic change. He has published more than 20 books, including Handbook of Organization Development and Organizational Development and Change, and more than 60 articles. He has served on the editorial board or as editor for 10 journals, including Academy of Management Review. He received best paper awards in 1990 and 1994, and in 2007 received a Book of the Year Award from the Academy of Human Resource Management. Professor Cumming served as President of the Academy of Management, the leading professional organization for scholars in management and organization.

Research

A Cognitive Inquiry into Knowledge Change • 2012
The Wilderness Years at JMI • 2011
Large-Scale System Change • 2011
How Business Schools Shape (Misshape) Management Research • 2011
Dynamic Strategy Making • 2009
Reflections on the Field and Beyond: An Interview with Warren Bennis • 2008
Handbook of Organization Development • 2008
Introduction • 2008
We See Dead People? The State of Organization Science • 2007
Presidential Address: Quest for an Engaged Academy • 2007
Intervention Strategies in Management Consulting • 2005
Large-Scale System Change • 2005
Open Systems • 2005
Organization Development and Change • 2005
Systems Theory • 2005
Organization Development and Change: Foundations and Applications • 2004
Searching for a Strategy to Teach Strategy • 2003
Looking for a Strategy to Teach Strategy • 2003
When New CEOs Succeed and Fail: 4-D Theory of Transformation • 2003
The Future of Leadership: Today's Top Leadership Thinkers Speak to Tomorrow's Leaders • 2001
Section IV: Culture and Change • 2001
The Leadership Challenges of the Next Generation • 2001
Closed and Open Systems, Organizational • 2000
Essentials of Organizations Development and Change • 2000
Misuse of Case Method in OD&C Education • 2000
Organization Development and Change • 2000
The Influence of Organizational Demography on Customer-Oriented Prosocial Behavior. An Exploratory Investigation • 2000
The Dynamics of Strategic Change in Hospitals: Managed Care Strategies, Organization Design, and Performance • 1999
A Cybernetic Theory of Occupational Stress • 1998
Leading Organization Change: Towards a Balanced Perspective • 1998
Organizational Learning Disorders • 1998
Organization Development and Change • 1997
Socio-Technical Systems: An Intervention Strategy • 1997
A Participatively Designed Shift System Reduces Turnover in a Glass Factory • 1995
Breaking Frames: The Creation of JMI • 1995
From Programmed Change to Self Design: Learning How to Change Organizations • 1995
Interventions in Large Systems • 1995
Open Systems • 1995
Quality of Work Life • 1995
Systems Theory • 1995
Achieving Superior Customer Service Through Employee Involvement: An Empirical Investigation • 1994
Organization Development and Change • 1993
Socio-Technical Consultation • 1993
Organization Development in Different Classes of Organizations • 1992
Alum Corporation: Union/Management Cooperation Intervention • 1991
Cases in Organization Development • 1991
Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department: Transorganzational Intervention • 1991
The Evolving Field of Organization Development • 1991
Service Management Effectiveness • 1990
Collective Strategies for Technological Innovation: The Case of Ulniversity-Idustry R&D Consortia • 1990
Executive Appreciation and the Creation of Transorganizational Systems • 1990
Organizational Structure and Environmental Change • 1990
What if We Really Took Service Management Seriously? • 1990
Large-Scale Organization Change • 1989
Organization Development and Change • 1989
Organizational Change in Its Context • 1989
Productive Workplaces • 1989
Industrial Relations: Reports from the Firing Line • 1988
Concluding Note: Future Directions in Socio-Technical Systems Theory and Research • 1987
Profitability and the Role of Self-Design: A Banking Application • 1987
Self-Designing Organizations: Towards Implementing Quality-of-Work-Life Innovations • 1987
Work Design and New Manufacturing Technology • 1987
Experiential Learning and Change • 1986
Improving the Value of Performance Appraisals • 1986
Labor Law and Organization Development • 1986
Assessing Innovative Organization Designs: Beyond Traditional Evaluation Research • 1985
Doing research that is useful for theory and practice • 1985
Epilogue: Walking the Tightrope Between Practice and Theory • 1985
Industrial Relations: A Multidimensional View • 1985
Organization Design for the Future: A Collaborative Research Approach • 1985
Organization Development and Change • 1985
Producing Knowledge for Theory and Practice • 1985
Self-Designing Organizations • 1985
Managing Organizational Decline: The Case for TransOrganizational Systems • 1984
Designing Work for Productivity and Quality of Work Life • 1984
Refocusing Leadership: A Modest Proposal • 1984
Creating Useful Knowledge with Organizations: Relationship and Process Issues • 1983
Implementing Quality of Work Life Programs by Managers • 1983
Systems Theory and Organization Development: Towards Conceptual Unity • 1983
Transorganizational Development • 1983
Designing Effective Work Groups • 1981
Interorganizational Theory and Organization Development • 1980
Systems Theory for Organization Development • 1980
A Cybernetic Framework for Studying Occupational Stress • 1979
A Socio-Technical Systems View of Organizations • 1979
Job Characteristics, Alienation, and Work-Related Behavior: A Study of Professional Employees • 1979
Cases in Organizations: Behavior, Structure, and Processes • 1978
Evaluating Work Design Experiments: Notes on Euler's Research • 1978
Handbook of Organizational and Industrial Psychology • 1978
Self-Regulating Work Groups: A Socio-Technical Synthesis • 1978
Socio-Technical Experimentation: A Review of 16 Selected Studies • 1978
A Methodological Critique of 58 Selected Work Experiments • 1977
Improving Productivity and the Quality of Work Life • 1977
Job Satisfaction and Productivity • 1977
Management of Work: A Socio-Technical Systems Approach • 1977
Organization Theory • 1977
The Relationship Between Worker Alienation and Work-Related Behavior • 1977
Satisfaction, Job Involvement, and Intrinsic Motivation: An Extension of Lawler and Hall's Factor Analysis • 1976
The Development of ResearchBased Strategies for Improving the Quality of Work Life • 1976
Worker Reactions to Autonomous Work Groups: Conditions for Functioning, Differential Effects, and Individual Differences • 1976
Intervention Strategies for Improving Productivity and the Quality of Work Life • 1975