A Professional History
In the 1970s John Ballard served as management consultant and analyst in the United States Air Force. Living on the Gulf Coast of Mississippi, he directed management and organizational studies, including a two year study of over 37,000 medical personnel at 149 Air Force hospitals worldwide. His methods for conducting management advisory studies and engineering personnel requirements revised Air Force procedures. During the three years he resided in Germany, he conducted management studies in Germany, England, Italy, Norway, and Spain.
Selected by the Air Force for doctoral study in Industrial/Organizational Psychology, Ballard attended Purdue University where he completed all course work for Industrial/Organizational Psychology before completing his doctorate in Social-Personality Psychology. He received his Ph.D. from Purdue in 1983.
At the Air Force Manpower and Personnel Center near San Antonio, Texas, Ballard was Chief, Military Personnel Testing, managing personnel testing at over 400 locations, determining testing polices, and evaluating tests, including the Air Force Officer Qualifying Test. Later as Chief, Research and Measurement Division, he managed all United States Air Force testing programs (over 500,000 tests given annually), directed the Air Force Survey Program (over 150,000 personnel surveyed annually), and determined requirements for Air Force human resources research and development projects (allocating over $20 M annually).
Ballard began his academic career at the Air Force's graduate school, the Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT) near Dayton, Ohio, where he taught management and organizational behavior. After four years he was promoted to associate professor. Leaving the Air Force, Ballard taught in the Department of Business Administration at Wittenberg University, Springfield, Ohio, and later in the Department of Management, Miami University at Oxford. He joined the faculty at Mount St. Joseph University in 1994. In 2016 he transitioned to Emeritus Professor of Management.
Dr. Ballard is a member of the Academy of Management, the Association for Psychological Science, the American Psychological Association (APA), the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology (SIOP), the Organizational Design Community, and the Parapsychological Association. Academy of Management divisional memberships include Management Education and Development, Organization Development and Change, and Management History.
At AFIT Ballard received the Outstanding Professor in the Engineering Management Program award and later was selected as the Outstanding Professor of the Year for the Air Force Institute of Technology. At Wittenberg the graduating class made him an Honorary Member of the Class of 1993. In 2005, 2006, 2007, and 2008 he received Outstanding Reviewer Awards from the Management Education and Development Division of the Academy of Management. He served on the editorial board of the Academy of Management Learning and Education journal from 2008-2011 and was honored with an Outstanding Editorial Board Reviewer award. In 2013 Cincy Magazine honored him as an Outstanding Educator. Mount St. Joseph University awarded him their Distinguished Scholar Award for 2016. Dr. Ballard authored Decoding the Workplace and has over 50 professional publications and presentations. In 2016 Decoding the Workplace was named best career book in an international competition. In 2019 he co-authored a paper about who built Maslow's pyramid (not Abraham Maslow) with Todd Bridgman and Steve Cummings of Victoria University of Wellington. It was published in the top management education journal, the Academy of Management Learning & Education (AMLE), and in 2020 was named the Best Article in AMLE for 2019.
In the 1970s John Ballard served as management consultant and analyst in the United States Air Force. Living on the Gulf Coast of Mississippi, he directed management and organizational studies, including a two year study of over 37,000 medical personnel at 149 Air Force hospitals worldwide. His methods for conducting management advisory studies and engineering personnel requirements revised Air Force procedures. During the three years he resided in Germany, he conducted management studies in Germany, England, Italy, Norway, and Spain.
Selected by the Air Force for doctoral study in Industrial/Organizational Psychology, Ballard attended Purdue University where he completed all course work for Industrial/Organizational Psychology before completing his doctorate in Social-Personality Psychology. He received his Ph.D. from Purdue in 1983.
At the Air Force Manpower and Personnel Center near San Antonio, Texas, Ballard was Chief, Military Personnel Testing, managing personnel testing at over 400 locations, determining testing polices, and evaluating tests, including the Air Force Officer Qualifying Test. Later as Chief, Research and Measurement Division, he managed all United States Air Force testing programs (over 500,000 tests given annually), directed the Air Force Survey Program (over 150,000 personnel surveyed annually), and determined requirements for Air Force human resources research and development projects (allocating over $20 M annually).
Ballard began his academic career at the Air Force's graduate school, the Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT) near Dayton, Ohio, where he taught management and organizational behavior. After four years he was promoted to associate professor. Leaving the Air Force, Ballard taught in the Department of Business Administration at Wittenberg University, Springfield, Ohio, and later in the Department of Management, Miami University at Oxford. He joined the faculty at Mount St. Joseph University in 1994. In 2016 he transitioned to Emeritus Professor of Management.
Dr. Ballard is a member of the Academy of Management, the Association for Psychological Science, the American Psychological Association (APA), the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology (SIOP), the Organizational Design Community, and the Parapsychological Association. Academy of Management divisional memberships include Management Education and Development, Organization Development and Change, and Management History.
At AFIT Ballard received the Outstanding Professor in the Engineering Management Program award and later was selected as the Outstanding Professor of the Year for the Air Force Institute of Technology. At Wittenberg the graduating class made him an Honorary Member of the Class of 1993. In 2005, 2006, 2007, and 2008 he received Outstanding Reviewer Awards from the Management Education and Development Division of the Academy of Management. He served on the editorial board of the Academy of Management Learning and Education journal from 2008-2011 and was honored with an Outstanding Editorial Board Reviewer award. In 2013 Cincy Magazine honored him as an Outstanding Educator. Mount St. Joseph University awarded him their Distinguished Scholar Award for 2016. Dr. Ballard authored Decoding the Workplace and has over 50 professional publications and presentations. In 2016 Decoding the Workplace was named best career book in an international competition. In 2019 he co-authored a paper about who built Maslow's pyramid (not Abraham Maslow) with Todd Bridgman and Steve Cummings of Victoria University of Wellington. It was published in the top management education journal, the Academy of Management Learning & Education (AMLE), and in 2020 was named the Best Article in AMLE for 2019.