Module 1 – 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 from
http://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
