The Balanced Scorecard & the Financial
Perspective
Assignment Overview
In this module’s case assignment you will be
introduced to the balanced scorecard concept and will begin to consider how
organizations link strategy with the balanced scorecard approach. We will look
at the interrelationship of strategy and the balanced scorecard approach in
more depth later on in this course. For now, however, it is good to understand
the fundamentals of the BSC and to consider examples of how organizations have
integrated the BSC approach into their daily operations in a fashion that reflects
the strategy of the respective organizations.
To prepare for this case assignment you are
to start by reading the required readings identified on the background page.
You’ll note that one of those articles includes:
Martello, M., Watson, J., & Fischer, M.
(2008). Implementing a balanced scorecard in a not-for-profit organization. Journal
of Business & Economics Research. 6(9), 67-80. Retrieved fromhttp://journals.cluteonline.com/index.php/JBER/article/view/2471/2517
This is the case study you will be evaluating
for this assignment. Note that there is an option to download the PDF file
rather than using the PDF viewer on this page. This may save you some
aggravation.
After reading this article, formulate an
argumentative essay around the following thesis statement:
Cattaraugus County Rehabilitation Center did
an effective job of implementing a balanced scorecard approach in a fashion
that reflects their organizational mission and vision.
If you do not think this thesis is accurate,
you can argue that the Center did not do an effective job.
Assignment Expectations
Your analysis should be structured in terms
of the following four perspectives (you will be using essentially this same
comparative evaluation framework for the first four modules of this course):
Introduction:In this part of your essay
you will need to set up your argument by introducing your topic and presenting
your position or thesis statement somewhere in this introductory paragraph.
Analysis:In this section you will present several
arguments arguing in favor of your thesis statement. Make sure you discuss how
the Center used the score card quadrants to align with organizational strategy
(or how it failed to do so).
Conclusion:Wrap up your argument with a clear and cogent
synopsis of your findings. Do your best to convince your reader (aka, your
professor) as to your position.
Additional Instructions: Your argumentative
essay should be 3 to 4 pages in length (not counting your title page or
references). You must include a list of references. APA formatting is
preferred. Do not paste in sections of text into your essay. All of your work
must be written in your own words. It’s OK to use a short quote now and again,
but quotations must be in quotation marks and properly cited. In-text citations
should be used anytime you are borrowing somebody else’s ideas, or information.
That is to say, if you are borrowing a thought from a publication from G.
Jetson’s article written in 2010, that section of text must be followed with
(Jetson, 2010). Quotations, data, and general ideas (put into your own words)
should all be cited.
Module 1 – SLP
The Balanced Scorecard & the Financial
Perspective
The purpose of the Session Long Project is to
give you the opportunity to explore the applicability of the Module to your own
life, work, and place in space and time, and to experiment with the Module to
see how the otherwise academically rigorous presentation of a topic may, with
more or less work and/or trauma, become “up close and personal”. This
is done in a number of different ways — sometimes cumulative papers, sometimes
practical hands-on experimentation with a tool of some sort, sometimes
reflections on a place of work or life. The common thread is personal
application, aimed at demonstrating a cumulative knowledge and understanding of
the course’s material.
For this course, the Session Long Project
will take the form of putting together background from each of the four
perspectives for a balanced scorecard approach to an organization or
organizational unit with which you are familiar. In the final module, you will
have a go at strategy mapping. You’re not building a complete balanced
scorecard — that would be far beyond our current scope – but you’ll have a
chance to see what goes into it and how it gets put together into a coordinated
whole. As in the cases, you’ll be drawing on your previous course work to help.
The Module 1 assignment has two parts. First,
you need to identify an organization to which you have access to at least some
information concerning financial data; staffing and human resource systems;
marketing and customer relations; information systems; and operations. While
most material on the Balanced Scorecard is written from the private, for-profit
point of view, it’s perfectly possible to use this approach with public or
non-profit organizations as well.
For the second part of this assignment,
consider the organization’s mission and strategy from the perspective of its
financial operations (from your work on the case, your previous course work,
and your background reading, you should be reasonably clear what such
operations are). In this section of the assignment you’ll begin to identify
objectives and measures relevant to that perspective. If you’re unclear on just
what objectives and measures are,here is a presentation that describes
what they are and how to write them.
SLP Assignment Expectations
When you have thought about it and made your
selection, please specify (2-3 pages):
- The
name of your organization - What
this organization does – its mission, vision and overall strategy - The
access you have to information about this organization — remember, you’ll
need information about its financial performance, marketing, internal
operations, strategy, and management systems.
Once you’re reasonably clear on what’s
involved, think about your organization and its finances, and then:
- Identify
at least three objectives for improving the organization’s
financial position, and show how they relate to the mission, vision
and strategy of the organization. - For
each objective, develop at least one meaningful performance measure
(metric). - For
each objective, identify at least one expected level of performance
(target). - For
each objective, identify at least one new action or program that needs to
be developed to ensure successful implementation of the organization’s
strategy (initiative).
Here’s a table that you may wish to copy and
fill in:
|
Objective |
Measure |
Target |
Action |
Module 4 – Case
Strategy Mapping & the Learning and
Growth Perspective
Assignment Overview
Explain the process of strategy mapping and
how it relates to performance management and establishing value propositions.
You may discuss this theoretically or use the Glacier Inn case study presented
in Armitage and Scholey (2009) to serve as an example for integrating these
ideas. Alternatively, you can use the Hazard Action Zone case study presented
in Murby and Gold (2005) if you’d prefer.
Armitage, H., &Scholey, C. (2006). Using
strategy maps to drive performance. Society of Mgt. Accountants of
Canada. Retrieved from http://www.cimaglobal.com/documents/importeddocuments/tech_mag_strategy_mapping_march07.pdf
Murby, L., & Gould, S. (2005). Effective
performance management with the balanced scorecard: Technical report. Chartered
Institute of Management Accountants. Retrieved from: http://www.cimaglobal.com/Documents/ImportedDocuments/Tech_rept_Effective_Performance_Mgt_with_Balanced_Scd_July_2005.pdf
Assignment Expectations
Your essay should be 3 to 4 pages long and
include the following:
Introduction: In this part of your
essay you will need to introduce your topic and provide a very brief overview
of the key points you plan to make in your paper.
Analysis: In this section you will present
several arguments in favor of your thesis statement. Discuss how either Glacier
Inn or Hazard Action Zone effectively used strategic mapping (or how they
failed to do so).
Conclusion: Wrap up your argument with a clear and
cogent synopsis of your findings. Do your best to convince your reader (aka,
your professor) as to your position.
Additional Instructions: Your essay should be
3 to 4 pages in length (not counting your title page or references). You must
include a list of references. APA formatting is preferred. Do not paste in
sections of text into your essay. All of your work must be written in your own
words. It’s OK to use a short quote now and again, but quotations must be in
quotation marks and properly cited. In-text citations should be used anytime
you are borrowing somebody else’s ideas, or information. That is to say, if you
are borrowing a thought from a publication from J. Neutron’s article written in
2010, that section of text must be followed with (Neutron, 2010). Quotations,
data, and general ideas (put into your own words) should all be cited.
Module 4 – SLP
Strategy Mapping & the Learning and
Growth Perspective
For Module 4, consider your organization’s
mission and strategy from the perspective of its learning and growth (from your
work on the case, your previous course work, and your background reading, you
should be reasonably clear what such activities are). In this section of the
assignment you’ll begin to identify objectives and measures relevant to that
perspective. Refer back to this presentation onobjectivesif you need to.
SLP Assignment Expectations
Once you’re reasonably clear on what’s
involved, think about your organization and its learning and growth processes,
and then:
- Identify
at least three objectives for improving the organization’s
learning and growth, and show how they relate to the mission, vision
and strategy of the organization. - For
each objective, develop at least one meaningful performance measure
(metric). - For
each objective, identify at least one expected level of performance
(target). - For
each objective, identify at least one new action or program that needs to
be developed to ensure successful implementation of the organization’s
strategy (initiative). - Comment
briefly on the relationships of the learning and growth objectives that
you’ve identified here to the financial objectives that you identified in
the Module 1 SLP assignment, the customer service objectives you
identified in Module 2, and/or the internal business process objectives
you identified in Module 3. How do they help to fulfill those objectives?
If they don’t (and they don’t have to), what makes them more important
than objectives that would relate to customer service, business processes,
or financial operations? - Finally,
do you wish to make any changes to your Module 1, 2, or 3 objective
write-ups in light of your Module 4 experience?
Here’s a table that you may wish to copy and
fill in (the boxes are expandable – take all the space you need to be complete
in your descriptions. No more than 2-3 pages should be necessary.)
|
Objective |
Measure |
Target |
Action |
|
Relationships |
|||
|
Revisions |
|||
|
Objective/Module |
Measure |
Target |
Action |
BUS499 Module 2 – Case
The Balanced Scorecard & the Financial
Perspective
Assignment Overview
In this module’s case assignment you will be
introduced to the balanced scorecard concept and will begin to consider how
organizations link strategy with the balanced scorecard approach. We will look
at the interrelationship of strategy and the balanced scorecard approach in
more depth later on in this course. For now, however, it is good to understand
the fundamentals of the BSC and to consider examples of how organizations have
integrated the BSC approach into their daily operations in a fashion that reflects
the strategy of the respective organizations.
To prepare for this case assignment you are
to start by reading the required readings identified on the background page.
You’ll note that one of those articles includes:
Martello, M., Watson, J., & Fischer, M.
(2008). Implementing a balanced scorecard in a not-for-profit organization. Journal
of Business & Economics Research. 6(9), 67-80. Retrieved fromhttp://journals.cluteonline.com/index.php/JBER/article/view/2471/2517
This is the case study you will be evaluating
for this assignment. Note that there is an option to download the PDF file
rather than using the PDF viewer on this page. This may save you some
aggravation.
After reading this article, formulate an
argumentative essay around the following thesis statement:
Cattaraugus County Rehabilitation Center did
an effective job of implementing a balanced scorecard approach in a fashion
that reflects their organizational mission and vision.
If you do not think this thesis is accurate,
you can argue that the Center did not do an effective job.
Assignment Expectations
Your analysis should be structured in terms
of the following four perspectives (you will be using essentially this same
comparative evaluation framework for the first four modules of this course):
Introduction:In this part of your essay
you will need to set up your argument by introducing your topic and presenting
your position or thesis statement somewhere in this introductory paragraph.
Analysis:In this section you will present several
arguments arguing in favor of your thesis statement. Make sure you discuss how
the Center used the score card quadrants to align with organizational strategy
(or how it failed to do so).
Conclusion:Wrap up your argument with a clear and cogent
synopsis of your findings. Do your best to convince your reader (aka, your
professor) as to your position.
Additional Instructions: Your argumentative
essay should be 3 to 4 pages in length (not counting your title page or
references). You must include a list of references. APA formatting is
preferred. Do not paste in sections of text into your essay. All of your work
must be written in your own words. It’s OK to use a short quote now and again,
but quotations must be in quotation marks and properly cited. In-text citations
should be used anytime you are borrowing somebody else’s ideas, or information.
That is to say, if you are borrowing a thought from a publication from G.
Jetson’s article written in 2010, that section of text must be followed with
(Jetson, 2010). Quotations, data, and general ideas (put into your own words)
should all be cited.
Module 2 – SLP
BSC Flexibility & the Customer
Perspective
For Module 2, consider your organization’s
mission and strategy from the perspective of its potential, prospective, and
present customers. In this section of the assignment you’ll begin to identify
objectives and measures relevant to that perspective.Refer back to this presentation on
objectives if you need to.
SLP Assignment Expectations
Once you’re reasonably clear on what’s
involved, think about your organization and its customers/clients/users/service
recipients/whatever-you-wish-to-call-them, and then:
- Identify
at least three objectives for the organization’s customer service
perspective and show how they relate to the mission, vision and
strategy of the organization. - For
each objective, develop at least one meaningful performance measure
(metric). - For
each objective, identify at least one expected level of performance
(target). - For
each objective, identify at least one new action or program that needs to
be developed to ensure successful implementation of the organization’s
strategy (initiative). - Comment
briefly on the relationships of the customer service objectives that
you’ve identified here to the financial objectives that you identified in
the Module 1 SLP assignment. How do they help to fulfill those objectives?
If they don’t (and they don’t have to), what makes them more important
than objectives that would relate to finances? - Finally,
do you wish to make any changes to your Module 1 objective write-up in
light of your Module 2 experience?
Here’s a table that you may wish to copy and
fill in (the boxes are expandable – take all the space you need to be complete
in your descriptions. No more than 2-3 pages should be necessary.)
|
Objective |
Measure |
Target |
Action |
|
Relationships |
|||
|
Revisions |
|||
|
Objective/Module |
Measure |
Target |
Action |
Module 3 – Case
BSC Implementation & the Internal
Business Process Perspective
Assignment Overview
Any large scale change endeavor requires a
great deal of effort on the part of a given organization to implement.
Implementing a corporate wide BSC based performance management system is no
difference. In implementing such a system, organizational leaders face the
challenge of overcoming organizational inertia rooted in resistance to change.
This is no easy challenge, and is one of the major reasons why the majority of
BSC initiatives (or large scale change initiatives in general) fail.
In this module, therefore, we are going to
look at the BSC not due to its value as a means of integrating strategy with
operations or due to its usefulness as a performance management tool. Rather,
in this module we are going to put on our organizational dynamics consultant
hat and consider what it takes to implement a large scale organizational change
endeavor.
After completing the readings presented,
write a 3-4 page essay that addresses the following issues.
In your own words, describe the efforts put
forth by BAE in implementing the BSC approach in their organization from an
implementation perspective. What efforts did they make to assure employees
would be receptive to, and accept the BSC initiative? Describe to what extent
you believe their efforts paid off.
The case study for BAE can be found in
Chapter 7 of:
Murby, L., & Gould, S. (2005). Effective
performance management with the balanced scorecard: Technical report. Chartered
Institute of Management Accountants. Retrieved from http://www.cimaglobal.com/Documents/ImportedDocuments/Tech_rept_Effective_Performance_Mgt_with_Balanced_Scd_July_2005.pdf
Assignment Expectations
Your assignment should include the following:
Introduction:In this part of your essay
you will need to introduce your topic and provide a very brief overview of the
key points you plan to make in your paper.
Analysis:In this section you will present the actual
comparison and contrast between BAA’s approach to the Balanced Scorecard and
more traditional approaches.
Conclusion:Wrap up your argument with a clear and cogent
synopsis of your findings. Do your best to convince your reader (aka, your
professor) as to your position.
Additional Instructions:Your essay should be 3 to 4
pages in length (not counting your title page or references). You must include
a list of references. APA formatting is preferred. Do not paste in sections of
text into your essay. All of your work must be written in your own words. It’s
OK to use a short quote now and again, but quotations must be in quotation
marks and properly cited. In-text citations should be used anytime you are
borrowing somebody else’s ideas, or information. That is to say, if you are
borrowing a thought from a publication from J. Bravo’s article written in 2010,
that section of text must be followed with (Bravo, 2010). Quotations, data, and
general ideas (put into your own words) should all be cited.
Module 3 – SLP
BSC Implementation & the Internal
Business Process Perspective
For Module 3, consider the organization’s
mission and strategy from the perspective of its internal business processes
(from your work on the case, your previous course work, and your background
reading, you should be reasonably clear what such business processes are). In
this section of the assignment you’ll begin to identify objectives and measures
relevant to that perspective.Refer back to this presentation on
objectives if you need to.
SLP Assignment Expectations
Once you’re reasonably clear on what’s
involved, think about your organization and its business processes, and then:
Identify at least three objectives for
improving the organization’s internal business processes, and show
how they relate to the mission, vision and strategy of the organization.
- For
each objective, develop at least one meaningful performance measure
(metric). - For
each objective, identify at least one expected level of performance
(target). - For
each objective, identify at least one new action or program that needs to
be developed to ensure successful implementation of the organization’s
strategy (initiative). - Comment
briefly on the relationships of the process objectives that you’ve
identified here to the finance objectives that you identified in the
Module 1 SLP assignment and/or the customer service objectives that you
identified in the Module 2 SLP assignment. How do they help to fulfill
those objectives? If they don’t (and they don’t have to), what makes them
more important than objectives that would relate to finance or
customer service? - Finally,
do you wish to make any changes to your Module 1 or Module 2 objective
write-ups in light of your Module 3 experience?
Here’s a table that you may wish to copy and
fill in (the boxes are expandable – take all the space you need to be complete
in your descriptions. No more than 2-3 pages should be necessary.)
|
Objective |
Measure |
Target |
Action |
|
Relationships |
|||
|
Revisions |
|||
|
Objective/Module |
Measure |
Target |
Action |
Module 4 – Case
Strategy Mapping & the Learning and
Growth Perspective
Assignment Overview
Explain
the process of strategy mapping and how it relates to performance management
and establishing value propositions. You may discuss this theoretically or use
the Glacier Inn case study presented in Armitage and Scholey (2009) to serve as
an example for integrating these ideas. Alternatively, you can use the Hazard
Action Zone case study presented in Murby and Gold (2005) if you’d
prefer.
Armitage,
H., & Scholey, C. (2006). Using strategy maps to drive performance. Society
of Mgt. Accountants of Canada. Retrieved from http://www.cimaglobal.com/documents/importeddocuments/tech_mag_strategy_mapping_march07.pdf
Murby,
L., & Gould, S. (2005). Effective performance management with the balanced
scorecard: Technical report. Chartered Institute of Management
Accountants. Retrieved from: http://www.cimaglobal.com/Documents/ImportedDocuments/Tech_rept_Effective_Performance_Mgt_with_Balanced_Scd_July_2005.pdf
Assignment Expectations
Your
essay should be 3 to 4 pages long and include the following:
Introduction: In this part of your
essay you will need to introduce your topic and provide a very brief overview
of the key points you plan to make in your paper.
Analysis: In this section you
will present several arguments in favor of your thesis statement. Discuss how
either Glacier Inn or Hazard Action Zone effectively used strategic
mapping (or how they failed to do so).
Conclusion: Wrap up your argument
with a clear and cogent synopsis of your findings. Do your best to convince
your reader (aka, your professor) as to your position.
Additional
Instructions: Your
essay should be 3 to 4 pages in length (not counting your title page or
references). You must include a list of references. APA formatting is
preferred. Do not paste in sections of text into your essay. All of your work
must be written in your own words. It’s OK to use a short quote now and again,
but quotations must be in quotation marks and properly cited. In-text citations
should be used anytime you are borrowing somebody else’s ideas, or information.
That is to say, if you are borrowing a thought from a publication from J.
Neutron’s article written in 2010, that section of text must be followed with
(Neutron, 2010). Quotations, data, and general ideas (put into your own words)
should all be cited.
Module 4 – SLP
Strategy Mapping & the Learning and
Growth Perspective
For
Module 4, consider your organization’s mission and strategy from the
perspective of its learning and growth (from your work on the case, your
previous course work, and your background reading, you should be reasonably
clear what such activities are). In this section of the assignment you’ll begin
to identify objectives and measures relevant to that perspective. Refer back to
this presentation on objectivesif
you need to.
SLP Assignment Expectations
Once
you’re reasonably clear on what’s involved, think about your organization and
its learning and growth processes, and then:
- Identify at least three
objectives for improving the organization’s learning and growth,
and show how they relate to the mission, vision and strategy of the
organization. - For each objective, develop at
least one meaningful performance measure (metric). - For each objective, identify at
least one expected level of performance (target). - For each objective, identify at
least one new action or program that needs to be developed to ensure
successful implementation of the organization’s strategy (initiative). - Comment briefly on the
relationships of the learning and growth objectives that you’ve identified
here to the financial objectives that you identified in the Module 1 SLP
assignment, the customer service objectives you identified in Module 2,
and/or the internal business process objectives you identified in Module
3. How do they help to fulfill those objectives? If they don’t (and they
don’t have to), what makes them more important than objectives that would
relate to customer service, business processes, or financial operations? - Finally, do you wish to make
any changes to your Module 1, 2, or 3 objective write-ups in light of your
Module 4 experience?
Here’s
a table that you may wish to copy and fill in (the boxes are expandable – take
all the space you need to be complete in your descriptions. No more than 2-3
pages should be necessary.)
|
Objective |
Measure |
Target |
Action |
|
Relationships |
|||
|
Revisions |
|||
|
Objective/Module |
Measure |
Target |
Action |
