Ron E. Fry
Professor Ronald E. Fry joined the faculty of the Weatherhead School of Management’s Department of Organizational Behavior at Case Western Reserve University in 1978 and was tenured in 1984. Before coming to CWRU he received a BS in Engineering at the University of California at Los Angeles (1969), and an SM in Management from the Alfred P. Sloan School of Management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1971) where he also received a Ph.D. in Organizational Psychology (1978). In 2004, he was awarded the Weatherhead School’s Lifetime Service Award.
Ron is the newly appointed Chair of the Department of Organizational Behavior, ranked #1 in the world by the Financial Times. Before this, he directed the redesign and launch of the new Masters Program in Positive Organizational Development and Change, after having directed the Executive MBA Program for fifteen years. Both programs have consistently earned high national and international rankings in their respective areas. He has also been honored with the University Award for Outstanding Teacher in the Professional Schools.
Professor Fry has been involved in research and consulting with industrial, service and public sector organizations in the areas of human resource development and organizational change for the past twenty-five years. Fieldwork has involved a variety of systems including Ford, General Electric, Northern Telecom, Key Services Corporation, Mittal Steel, MSNBC.com, Greater Houston Mental Health Association, Boys & Girls Clubs of America, the US Navy, World Vision and Roadway Express in projects related to employee involvement, participatory management systems, fundamental cultural change, team building and executive development, and strategic planning and appreciative inquiry summits.
Professor Fry is widely published in the areas of Organizational Development, Appreciative Inquiry, Team Building, Change Management, Executive Development and the role and functions of the CEO. He was part of the group that originated the Appreciative Inquiry approach and continues to both apply and study the applications of AI in the Field. His most recent book, Appreciative Inquiry: A Positive Approach to Building Cooperative Capacity, with Frank Barrett was just published (Taos Institute, 2005). He also co-edited Appreciative Inquiry and Organizational Transformation: Reports from the field (Quorum, 2001).
He has developed and conducted a Certificate Program in Appreciative Leadership and Organizational Capacity Building for over 150 leaders of voluntary social change organizations in over 30 countries. With Professor David Cooperrider, he co-directs the CASE Weatherhead Certificate Program in Appreciative Inquiry for the Betterment of Business and Society. He is Editor and Chief of the Case Center for Business as Agent of Work Benefit’s global inquiry and directs the Center’s Institute for Advances in Appreciative Inquiry. He currently oversees AI applications in a variety of systems including World Vision, Lubrizol, Roadway Express, and the US Navy.
He has also served as a visiting faculty to Canterbury University in Christchurch, New Zealand, Katholieke University in Leuven, Belgium and to the Administrative Staff College of India.
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