An interview with William Ouchi

Executive Overview William Ouchi is author of the New York Times bestseller Theory Z: How American Management Can Meet the Japanese Challenge (Addison-Wesley, 1981). Theory Z has been published in 14 foreign editions and ranks as the seventh most widely held book of the 12 million titles held in 4,000 U.S. libraries. Professor Ouchi's most recent book, Making Schools Work: A Revolutionary Plan to Get Your Children the Education They Need, was published in September 2003 and details the research he has conducted in K-12 public education. According to this research, the schools that consistently performed the best also had the most decentralized management systems, in which individual principals—and not administrators in a central office—controlled school budgets and personnel. A UCLA faculty member since 1979, Professor Ouchi teaches courses in management and organization design, and conducts research on the structure of large organizations. A longtime civic activist, he took leave from UCLA from 1993 to 1995 to serve as advisor and chief of staff to then Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan. Professor Ouchi is co-founder and chairman of The Riordan Programs, which foster diversity in the business community by encouraging and preparing individuals from diverse and sometimes disadvantaged backgrounds to pursue higher education and careers in management. Professor Ouchi has served on the editorial boards of four scholarly journals and serves as advisor to several granting agencies. He serves on the advisory board of the U.S. Commission on Presidential Debates and on the boards of directors of AECOM, FirstFed Financial, One Lambda, Sempra Energy, and Water-Pik Technologies.