BSC IMPLEMENTATION & THE INTERNAL BUSINESS PROCESS PERSPECTIVE

Two important aspects of BSC. First, the process of successfully implementing BSC in any organization isn't something that can be done with minimal effort. In order to undertake any change effort, as you have learned in your previous studies, organizations have to make sure that top management is committed (walks the talk and provides needed resources), that employees are involved and have an opportunity to buy into the process, and that the culture of the organization is essentially altered so that a holistic measurement approach such as BSC is embraced as a core value of the organization. The BSC is not something that can just be pushed onto the ranks through a mandate. A fundamental change has to take place in the organization if it is to succeed. Thus, we will have an opportunity to consider concepts involving organizational change management.

Secondly, you are re-introduced to the business process perspective and learn to examine simultaneously a full range of stakeholder perspectives that are tied to the efficient operation of the organization. The graphic highlights where these questions fit into the whole model.

A business process is a set of coordinated tasks and activities, conducted by both people and equipment that will lead to accomplishing a specific organizational goal. Business process management is a systematic approach to improving those processes. Customers, as stakeholders, (as represented by the customer perspective we studied in module 2) are a subset of a larger group, that is, a subset of all of the stakeholders for the organization. Businesses must operate efficiently and produce a quality product to keep prices at a level that is acceptable to customers. Thus, organizations implement internal processes such as total quality and Just-in-Time manufacturing processes to accommodate customer needs.

Likewise, stockholders, require a substantial return on their investment. Thus, the internal workings of the organization must be well honed in order for the organization to compete in the marketplace to provide the return the stockholders expect and deserve.

In this module, you'll first look at the issue of change management and explore the difficulties faced by organizations with respect to implementing a comprehensive management tool such as the Balanced Scorecard. This will allow you to revisit some of your previous coursework dealing with the difficulties associated with organizational change.

Secondly you will revisit the internal business processes aspect of the balanced scorecard and will have an opportunity to apply this aspect of the tool to your chosen organization. You will also reflect on your internal business objectives in light of financial and customer expectations. You'll have a chance to draw on courses you've taken, in particular OPM 300 (Operations Management). However, you will also find concepts and measures discussed in MKT 301 (Principles of Marketing) and ITM 301 (Principles of Information Systems in Business and Organizations) to be helpful. Finally, in ACC 202 (Managerial Accounting), you were exposed to material that will help you assess many issues of cost performance. You'll also pick up some key new vocabulary for looking at these issues

You do not need to review all the statistical stuff, just read through to the point where the author presents the hypotheses and then move to the discussion and/or conclusion sections of the documents.

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 different. 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

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.

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