Howard M. Guttman (born January 17, 1951) is an American management consultant and founder of Guttman Development Strategies, a consulting firm. Guttman is best known for his theories on corporate organizational hierarchies, positing that the traditional, top-down model of management is less effective than the horizontal, high-performance organization, where decisions are made by cross-functional teams with equal authority. Guttman's theories have garnered him a following in top-management circles, largely due to his books and work with leaders of multi-national corporations who have applied his ideas in day-to-day business operations. He also regularly addresses corporate and academic audiences. Career After graduating from New Jersey's Fairleigh Dickinson University in 1972 with a degree in history and education, Howard M. Guttman joined the New Jersey Historical Society as an associate in education, responsible for developing programs on New Jersey history and culture for teachers and students. After three years, he decided to matriculate in the master's program at Case Western Reserve's Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences. He received his M.S., with a focus on organization and community development, and returned to the New Jersey Historical Society as assistant director, responsible for State planning and Federal grant development. During his tenure at the society, Guttman authored 35 articles on New Jersey history. He also consulted with various organizations in the greater-New Jersey metropolitan area on issues related to management and organization development. Guttman's interest in organization development consulting led him to apply for a position at Automatic Data Processing (ADP). He joined the company as a management development specialist. At ADP, he deepened his knowledge of the fundamentals of organization development consulting. He was profoundly influenced by his mentor, Vice President of Human Resources Bernie Kessler, from whom he learned how an OD consultant can add significant value to an organization's bottom line. He was promoted to senior OD consultant before leaving the company. In 1982, Guttman was hired as national manager of training and development for Johnson & Johnson's consumer products sector, where he continued to develop new organization development processes focusing on senior executive teams. When he left J&J in 1988, he had risen to the position of corporate director of human resources. In 1989, Guttman founded Guttman Development Strategies (GDS), based on his concept of horizontal, high-performance organizations, which was strongly influenced by the work of Peter Drucker. He now runs GDS out of a Mt. Arlington, New Jersey, office.