Dr. Eric Flamholtz : League of Extraordinary Minds Expert Panelist

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Dr. Eric Flamholtz Eric Flamholtz is Professor of Human Resource Management & Organizational Behavior in the Anderson Graduate School of Management and a Faculty Research Fellow in the Harold Price Center for Entrepreneurial Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). He is also President of Management Systems Consulting Corporation, which he co-founded in 1978.

His major interests are: strategic organizational development (organizational success and failure) and the transitions and transformations required at different stages of growth; 2) the measurement and management of organizational culture; 3) organizational control systems such as the Balanced Scorecard; and 4) Human Resource Accounting. His approach is based upon what he terms “practical management theory,” i.e.; management theory, which is empirically based and sound but which is relevant and useful to managers.

His educational background combines organizational behavior and human resource management with accounting. He has taught and done research in each of these disciplines as well as interdisciplinary work combining all three.

Since 1976, Eric Flamholtz has focused on two fundamental questions: What does it take to continue to build successful organizations over the long term? and What is required for managers to continue to be successful throughout their careers? Answering these questions led Dr. Flamholtz to develop a series of frameworks and management tools that enable organizations and individuals to transition successfully from one stage of development to the next. His ultimate aim is to develop a holistic approach to managing growth successfully over the long term.

Eric is widely published in academic and professional literature. He has authored several books, including Growing Pains: Transitioning from an Entrepreneurship to a Professionally Managed Firm,Third Edition, (with Yvonne Randle, Jossey-Bass Publishers, 2000), The Inner Game Of Management (with Yvonne Randle, American Management Association, 1987), Human Resource Accounting, Third Edition (Kluwer Academic Press, 1999), Changing the Game: Managing Organizational Transformations of the First, Second, and Third Kinds (with Yvonne Randle, Oxford University Press, 1998), and Effective Organizational Control: Theory and Practice (Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1996). He has also authored many professional and academic articles.

His clients have included: Amgen, Starbucks Coffee Company, Neutrogena, PowerBar, Countrywide Credit Industries, Tommy Bahama, Pardee Construction (a Weyerhaeuser company), Mövenpick Gastronomy International, The Disney Store, Wolfgang Puck Food Company, Baskin Robbins, Navistar International, PacifiCare Health Systems, American Century Investors, Jamba Juice, Bugle Boy, Chart House Enterprises, City National Bank, Citation, Cendant Mortgage, Guilford Pharmaceuticals, Mortgage Information Corporation, Unitech Systems, IBM, Kemper Insurance, General Dynamics, United Technologies, Meredith Publishing, Simon Properties, Touche Ross, LifeScan (subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson), Mileage Plus (subsidiary of UAL Corp.), Surgitek (subsidiary of Bristol-Myers Squibb), Republic Pictures, U.S. Filter, New World Entertainment, and Tekelec as well as many others.

Additionally, Eric has presented seminars and workshops for a wide variety of firms and organizations, including FedEx, Nike, Colgate Palmolive, AT&T, Hughes Electronics, Young Presidents Organization (YPO), Forbes Presidents Forum, Fortune Growth Conference, Fortune Human Resources Forum, Fortune CFO Forum, General Motors, PepsiCo, Abbott Laboratories, ARCO, Allergan, the Hyatt Corporation, Borg Warner, CIT, Computer Sciences Corporation, TRW, United Overseas Bank (Singapore), Warburg Pincus (Singapore), and Reuters (Switzerland).

Dr. Flamholtz has served on the faculty at UCLA since 1973. Previously, he served on the faculties of Columbia University, and the University of Michigan where he was also on the Staff of The Institute for Social Research (ISR). At UCLA, he currently teaches courses on “Managing Entrepreneurial Organizations” and “Human Resource Management & Organizational Behavior.” He has previously taught courses on Financial Planning & Control Systems, Managerial Decision-Making, Behavioral Accounting, Human Resource Accounting, and Advanced Management as well as the basic core course in Financial & Managerial Accounting. He is a member of the Personnel Round Table.

He received his Ph.D. from the University of Michigan, an M.B.A. from Washington University in St. Louis, and an undergraduate degree in from Hunter College. His doctoral dissertation, “The Theory and Measurement of an Individual’s Value to an Organization,” was co-winner of the McKinsey Foundation for Management Research Dissertation Award.