Summary

Architecting a Balanced Scorecard requires organizations to master four techniques – effective strategic mapping, selection of the right strategic measures, selection of the appropriate strategic targets and choosing the right strategic initiatives.

This article focuses on the third aspect, namely, choosing strategic targets. The way in which organizations choose strategic targets has a great bearing on their performance management results.

All enterprises set targets. While most are financial, the Balanced Scorecard reminds them to pay equal attention to both financial and non-financial targets and to synchronize goals to a longer term, strategic horizon.

Summary

Over the years, a number of business excellence models have been developed to serve as performance management frameworks. Some examples are the Malcolm Baldrige Model, the European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM) Excellence Model, the Australian Business Excellence Framework and the Singapore Quality Model.

This article seeks to examine the key question of which framework organizations should use and concludes that organizations should use a combined approach.

As part of the argument, the article first takes an-depth look at the Malcolm Baldrige Framework, the seven criteria that form part of the framework and organizations that have successfully used the Baldrige model. Then, the article looks at the EFQM Business Excellence Model and looks at successful practitioners.

Summary 

In this interview, Memory Nguwi, Partner and Principal Consultant for Organisational Excellence Consultants (Pvt) Ltd., Zimbabwe poses four important questions to Paul Niven, Balanced Scorecard expert, management consultant and author. These are the questions that must be considered by every organisation but typically remain unasked. Paul Niven’s responses to these questions offer insights into the following key areas:

• Why does an organisation need a formal practice of performance management?
• How can one create buy-in for an organisation’s need to have a performance management practice?

Summary

Yesterday my clock radio came to life at precisely at 6:15 a.m., just as I had instructed it the night before. Instead of an alarm - who wants to be jolted awake by a jarring buzz next to your head - I was awakened by what some would consider equally as jarring - the frenzied chatter of a morning radio team. As I was easing into consciousness the station's entertainment reporter listed the celebrity news of the previous weekend. At one point she mentioned that singer Hilary Duff became engaged to Canadian hockey player Mike Comrie, who popped the question while the two were vacationing in Hawaii. After some lighthearted banter on the topic the DJ asked whether Comrie was part of the Olympic team that was currently playing in Vancouver. His question struck me immediately. "Wasn't he listening?" I mumbled to myself. She said Comrie had proposed in Hawaii so it would be pretty tricky to plan a romantic escape with your girlfriend while simultaneously battling for a gold medal 2,700 miles away.

Don’t just keep running faster – rather stop and ask 7 important questions - Have you sometimes been told that you need to be more productive? You need to work harder? You need to be more efficient?

Most people, when they hear these words, think that they need to speed up their work. “The management thinks we are too slow.”

Summary

Businesses and organizations are fundamentally re-evaluating their approach to planning and performance management. As part of this process, many have chosen the Balanced Scorecard as an appropriate strategic management tool for delivering more sustained performance improvements.

This article examines another powerful emerging idea – Beyond Budgeting – and describes how it is proving to be a superior alternative to the conventional budgeting approach. Leading this paradigm shift is the Beyond Budgeting Round Table, which has brought much clarity to the debate about the value and validity of the budget. In doing so, argues the author, it has generated practical insights for those involved in Balanced Scorecard initiatives. In support of this argument, the author examines the key dimensions of the Beyond Budgeting movement and how organizations are freeing themselves from the limitations of the budget mechanism. Interestingly, many of these aspects find echo in the Balanced Scorecard philosophy. The author summarizes the six external factors of change identified by the Beyond Budgeting Round Table.

Summary

This interview features Sven Edvinsson, Senior Vice President, Head of Group Planning, Nordea. Headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden, Nordea is the leading financial services group in the Nordic and Baltic Sea region. In 2004, Nordea was inducted into the prestigious Balanced Scorecard Collaborative Hall of Fame.

Summary

Architecting a Balanced Scorecard requires organizations to master four techniques – effective strategic mapping, selection of the right strategic measures, selection of the appropriate strategic targets and choosing the right strategic initiatives.

This article focuses on the last, namely, choosing strategic initiatives.

Next to the identification of the strategic objectives, selection of strategic initiatives is the most important component of the Balanced Scorecard framework. They are more important than metrics. While the Strategy Map describes the logic of the strategy and the Balanced Scorecard identifies measures and targets for each strategic objective, managers can achieve objectives and targets only by identify the right strategic initiatives required to deliver performance outcomes. In fact, the work of performance management and strategy implementation takes place through strategic initiatives.