Thesis on "Pitfalls of Balance Scorecard"
Thesis 7 pages (2048 words) Sources: 13 Style: Harvard
[EXCERPT] . . . .
Balanced Scorecard within application of strategic decision making. It first examines the nature of the Balanced Scorecard as a unit of performance measurement. The practice does have several benefits construed through dividing business actions into four separate, yet compatible categories that give individual attention to individual problems within productivity. However, despite its successful implementation and practice has shown that there are several pitfalls that in many cases limit the success of the creation of such strategies and their effective implementation.Within the midst of a continuously developing global economy and business context is the incessant search for an effective and reliable performance measurement standard. Businesses want to see the results of newly implemented strategies, just as they need to measure current performance in order to focus on potential problem areas to increase in terms of productivity. Thus, the basic principle of the Balanced Scorecard is essential to the maintenance of maximum productivity. It helps organizations target individual and universal underlying problem areas. However, this method, which has been glorified over the years, does have its potential downfalls. There are several pitfalls that severely threaten the success of the created strategies to be tested through the implementation of the essential necessary changes.
Research
The Balanced Scorecard is an impressive system for setting out goals and guidelines in terms of performance measurement. It was first introduced and published by Robert Kaplan and David Norton I 1992 (U.S. Office of Personal Management 2009).
It is cr
download full paper ⤓
Spelling out each element and strategy to be implemented on a detailed and solid time line structure has had success in driving up productivity. According to research, "These measures give top managers a fast but comprehensive view of the organization's performance and include both process and results measures," (U.S. Office of Personal Management 2009). Thus, Balanced Scorecards have been popularized as an effective methods to measure performance.
Within the individual perspectives outlined in the four sections of the Balanced Scorecard, it is clear that an effective balanced scorecard would have underlying patterns running concurrently within each. Therefore, the strategies created from the creative process of the scorecard not only clarify individual strategies to meet department target goals, but also more cohesive ones that integrate all areas together and meet common goals, (Atkins 2006). The balanced scorecard is said to provide cohesive strategies that work together in synergy to fulfill both levels of goals set. It also helps provide strong future directives, driving changes and new implementations to adjust productivity levels (Kaplan & Norton 1996).
Yet not perfect, nothing in business is ever as good as it seems, and the Balanced Scorecard method does have several disadvantages that threaten the success of such implementations. Because the Balanced Scorecard relies on the cooperation of the entire organization, there are a ton of different directions that could pose threats to its success in actual execution. Anything seems clever enough on paper, but true effectiveness in execution is much harder. Even the popularized Balanced Scorecard method has its disadvantages; "More than anything else, the Balanced Scorecard represents a major change initiative and as such can fall prey to" key change agents (Niven 2002).
"For every tool, there are pitfalls, and the balanced scorecard is no different," (Pangarkar & Kirkwood 2009). There are numerous pitfalls that threaten the success of implementations of strategies compiled through the Balanced Scorecard measurement process (Niven 2002). The next step is to examine these pitfalls individually.
The first major disadvantage experienced by businesses in the design and implementation of the Balanced Scorecard method is that of correctly assessing financial assets and conditions. Current financial assessment used in typical Balanced Scorecard exercises fails to take intangible assets into consideration, and instead focuses primarily on physical assets. Intangible assets can come to include things like the customer base as a financial asset, to be potentially used for leveraging within company acquisition discussions. Such intangible assets can play a big role in the formation of strategies, especially dealing with customer satisfaction. Therefore, by not allowing such tangible assets to reign into the Balanced Scorecard, it shows a pitfall in the initial design of the model. Additionally, current financial assessments primarily use historical data to replicate financial environments; "financial performance measures only demonstrate past or historical performance and do not provide any guidance for long-term objectives," (Pangarkar & Kirkwood 2000). Relying on past financial data can be detrimental in the event of a large fluctuation in the external financial environment. For instance, this recent recession has interrupted countless strategy implementation initiatives (Pangarkar 2009). Yet, the financial information is not the only pitfall.
Within the creation of strategies, many organizations compile ambiguous strategies that are not directed or tailored enough to fit the specific problems that organization is facing. In the instance that the strategy created within the context of the Balanced Scorecard is weak or ineffective, it will completely devastate attempts to implement the limp strategy in real world practice. According to research, "Many managers confuse daily activities and tactical objectives with the organization's strategic imperative or, worse, believe they have a strategy where none actually exists," (Pangarkar & Kirkwood 2000). Therefore there is the potential for the managers that are in charge of creating new strategies actually slow the process down by thinking in too small of terms.
Additionally, real life practices of Balanced Scorecard implementations have shown a lack of commitment within the organization to work on developing the strategies to increase productivity. Initiatives set within the Scorecard depend on the strength of managerial support for success in real practical applications. Unfortunately, many cases see a lack of commitment on the senior level, which can then be devastating to initiative implementation (Pham-Gia 2009). Thus, even after strategic planning, many businesses find it difficult to implement, many "could not implement the new measurement and management framework," (Kaplan & Norton 2000). Good intentions of a well developed and planned strategy sometimes fall by the wayside as there is a lack of determination and commitment to change internally; "even successful companies, well along in their Balanced Scorecard management system, can experience this source of failure," (Kaplan & Norton 2000). Lack of commitment can… READ MORE
Quoted Instructions for "Pitfalls of Balance Scorecard" Assignment:
This research paper should be about the pitfalls or disadvatntages of Balance Scorecard in business around 2000 words.
The paper should be as the following format:
Table of Content
Synopsis
Introduction
Research
Discussion
Conclusion
Recomendations
References
How to Reference "Pitfalls of Balance Scorecard" Thesis in a Bibliography
“Pitfalls of Balance Scorecard.” A1-TermPaper.com, 2009, https://www.a1-termpaper.com/topics/essay/balanced-scorecard-within-application/9536831. Accessed 4 Oct 2024.
Related Thesis Papers:
Performance Measurement for Small Sized Hotel a Balanced Scorecard Approach Research Proposal
Balanced Scorecard Method
Performance Measurement for Small-Sized Hotel: a Balanced Scorecard Approach
The balanced scorecard approach to the measurement of company performance is gaining popularity. This approach takes into account… read more
Research Proposal 45 pages (13021 words) Sources: 40 Style: Harvard Topic: Business / Corporations / E-commerce
Balanced Balanced Scorecard Literature Review
Balanced Scorecard (BSC)
The concept of Balanced Scorecard (BSC) is noted to be rapidly evolving in its nature. This is because since its launch, it has seen a series of… read more
Literature Review 9 pages (2396 words) Sources: 12 Style: APA Topic: Management / Organizations
What Could Make Employee Satisfaction Surveys Worth While? Dissertation
Employee Satisfaction
Hygiene Factors and Dissatisfaction at Work
Productivity and Employee Satisfaction
Employee Satisfaction
Work Environment
The key thing that obstructs workers from attaining results for the customers
Employee Compensation… read more
Dissertation 50 pages (15085 words) Sources: 45 Topic: Career / Labor / Human Resources
Activity-Based Costing Approach to Measure Value Term Paper
Activity-based costing approach to measure value of the Corporate Social Responsibility of financial institutions particularly Barclays
Bank.
Overall Research Aim, Questions and Objectives
Rationale in Support of the Study
Data… read more
Term Paper 22 pages (5960 words) Sources: 1+ Topic: Economics / Finance / Banking
Challenges of Enterprise Resource Planning ERP Implementation Dissertation
ERP Systems
CHALLENGES of ENTERPRISE SOFTWARE IMPLEMENTATIONS
The contributions of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems continue to be problematic for many organizations globally. Continually challenged across industries to get the… read more
Dissertation 81 pages (22297 words) Sources: 50 Topic: Management / Organizations
Fri, Oct 4, 2024
If you don't see the paper you need, we will write it for you!
We can write a new, 100% unique paper!