Performance Acceleration Management (PAM)

Dr. H. James Harrington is one of the world's quality system gurus with more than sixty years of experience. In the book, Tech Trending (Amy Zuckerman, Capstone, 2001), Dr. Harrington was referred to as "the quintessential tech trender." The New York Times referred to him as having a "knack for synthesis and an open mind about packaging his knowledge and experience in new ways-characteristics that may matter more as prerequisites for new-economy success than technical wizardry." He has been involved in developing quality management systems in Europe, South America, North America, Middle East, Africa, and Asia.

Dr. H. James Harrington is the chief executive officer for the Harrington Institute. He also serves as the chairman of the board for a number of businesses and as the US chairman of Chair on Technologies for Project Management at the University of Quebec in Montreal. Dr. Harrington is recognized as one of the world leaders in applying performance improvement methodologies to business processes.
In February 2002, Dr. Harrington retired as the chief operating officer (COO) of Systemcorp A.L.G., the leading supplier of knowledge management and project management software solutions. Prior to this, he served as a principal and one of the leaders in the Process Innovation Group at Ernst & Young. Dr. Harrington was with IBM for over thirty years as a senior engineer and project manager. Dr. Harrington is past chairman and past president of the prestigious International Academy for Quality and of the American Society for Quality Control. He is also an active member of the Global Knowledge Economics Council.
The Harrington/Ishikawa Medal presented yearly by the Asian-Pacific Quality Organization was named after Dr. Harrington to recognize his many contributions to the region. In 1997, the Quebec Society for Quality named their Quality Award "The Harrington/Neron Medal," honoring Dr. Harrington for his many contributions to the Quality Movement in Canada. In 2000 the Sri Lanka national quality award was named after him. The Middle East and Europe Best Quality Thesis Award was named "The Harrington Best TQM Thesis Award." The University of Sudan has established a Harrington Excellence Chair to study methodologies to improve organizational performance. The Chinese government presented him with the Magnolia Award for his major contribution to improving the quality of Chinese products.

Dr. Harrington's contributions to performance improvement around the world have brought him many honors and awards, including the Edwards Medal, the Lancaster Medal, the American Society for Quality's Distinguished Service Medal, and many others. He was appointed the honorary advisor to the China Quality Control Association, and he was elected to the Singapore Productivity Hall of Fame in 1990. He has been named lifetime honorary president of the Asia Pacific Quality Organization and honorary director of the Association Chilean de Control de Calidad.

Dr. Harrington has been elected a Fellow of the British Quality Control Organization and the American Society for Quality Control. He was also elected an honorary member of the quality societies in Taiwan, Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, and Singapore. He is also listed in "Who's Who Worldwide" and "Men of Distinction Worldwide." He has presented hundreds of papers on performance improvement and organizational management structure at the local, state, national, and international levels.

Dr. Harrington is a very prolific author, publishing hundreds of technical reports and magazine articles. He has authored 33 books and 10 software packages. His e-mail address is hjh@harrington-institute.com.