Vanguard Consulting Founder
Professor John Seddon
The first Vanguard organisation was established in 1985 by John Seddon. Vanguard set out to approach changing behaviour in organisations in a more systematic way than it had been treated to date, rejecting plausible theories for practical empiricism. John Seddon quickly developed a reputation for effectiveness. When asked to audit quality programmes to determine what had limited their success, he found good ideas being implemented with little understanding of how to address the problems of changing people’s behaviour. Since those early days, Vanguard has been pioneering new methods of change in organisations.
John acknowledges the influence of W.E Deming and Taiichi Ohno on his work and today he describes what Vanguard does as a combination of systems thinking – ‘how work works’ and intervention theory – ‘how to change it’.
John Seddon is an occupational psychologist, researcher, management thinker and leading authority on change in organisations, making significant contributions to the role of human factors in quality. Author of the best-selling I Want You to Cheat!: The Unreasonable Guide to Service and Quality in Organisations,John is an outspoken critic of ISO 9000. He is often asked to write for the broadsheet press and management magazines. He has spoken and lectured at seminars, conferences, universities and schools of management around the world. John has a reputation for being controversial and challenging, but informed.
John’s early career was concerned with understanding behaviour in organisations. When his work began to take him overseas he developed an interest in the impact of “country culture” on organisational behaviour. This caused him to question much of what was accepted tradition in management training and education. John is Managing Director of Vanguard Education Ltd and Vanguard Consulting Ltd, a consultancy specialising in organisational change.
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