Introducing the Balanced Scorecard: Creating Metrics to Measure Performance

This experiential exercise presents the concept of the Balanced Scorecard (BSC) and applies it in a university setting. The Balanced Scorecard was developed 12 years ago and has grown in popularity and is used by more than 50% of the Fortune 500 companies as a performance measurement and strategic management tool. The BSC expands the traditional financial measures into three other dimensions to capture a balanced approach to measure performance in an organization. These additional dimensions are as follows: Customer Focus, Competence/Employee Learning and Growth, and Operational Efficiency. The exercise uses an analogy of a race car driver who relies on one aspect of measurement to gauge the race versus relying on multiple dimensions of performance

How Unilever HPC-Na Sold its Employees on the Balanced Scorecard

Unilever Home & Personal Care-North America (HPC-NA) not only takes marketing its products very seriously, but it heavily promotes its balanced scorecard to employees as well. No wonder Unilever HPC-NA successfully designed a unique strategy to communicate awareness of the BSC while encouraging its participation and use. Their experiences should prove valuable to other organizations implementing a balanced scorecard and to those just beginning to formulate a communications approach to internal stakeholders about its role, significance, and use. The Unilever HPC-NA marketing campaign provides an effective strategy that other firms may consider when marketing a balanced scorecard internally. The HPC-NA journey yielded some important lessons: 1. Select a few critical measures, and track them rigorously. 2. Remember to market the BSC. 3. Align BSC results with compensation to maximize use and effectiveness. 4. Know your audience in all communications vehicles. 5. Keep in mind there will be early adopters and stragglers, but persevere

Julia\u27s Dilemna

Julia, a professional woman in her mid-thirties, has had relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis as a part of her life for the last five years. Now she must decide whether to disclose her hidden illness at work. Julia disclosed her illness to her manager in a prior employment, when her MS was first diagnosed, and experienced a supportive response. But she was always mindful that her performance would likely be carefully scrutinized since she was in a job that required strict deadlines. Julia made a career change about a year ago, and did not tell anyone in her new organization that she had MS. She avoided the issue during the hiring process, and deliberately refrained from informing her manager during her probationary period. She made lifestyle and workplace accommodations on her own to compensate for her disability. She was concerned about confidentiality and others’ perceptions of her as a person with a disability. Julia’s current decision was precipitated by changes in her health care coverage. Access to expensive drugs was a key factor in managing her illness, and she needed information in order to make her decision. This impending decision made her think again about whether she should disclose her illness, and to whom. Others who will be immediately impacted by her decision include her manager, coworkers and friends at work, human resource professionals, and her husband

Lean and Mean: Workplace Culture and the Prevention of Workplace Bullying

Workplace bullying has become a hot topic in the popular press as well as scholarly literature. Compared to targets of sexual harassment, bullied workers quit their jobs more often, are more unhappy, stressed at work, and less committed to the workplace. Little is done about it because there currently is no US law against bullying and often the only recourse for targets is to quit their jobs. We present a case study and then review various legal remedies and sample company policies to explore the actions organizations might take to eliminate this destructive workplace behavior

Shades of gray: applying professional codes of ethics to workplace dilemmas

This paper offers five real-life case studies for exploring ethics in the management classroom. They come from the fields of international business/ strategy, human resources management, accounting, finance, and marketing. To spark critical thinking and provide additional information, students are presented with reflection questions and professional codes of practice that relate to the issues and actions described in each case. After the major piece of experiential learning activity has been completed, students are exposed to viewpoints from experts in the field, specifically how those experts would have handled the case situation themselves. Referenced ethical codes of practice are taken from the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), the Institute of Management Accountants (IMA), the Society of Financial Services Professionals (FSP), the Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM), the American Marketing Association (AMA), and the Global Business Standards Codes (GBS). The business cases explore the extent to which the professional codes give guidance to practitioners and highlight the nature of ethical dilemmas and challenges that occur in these professions

Ethical and Managerial Implications of Internet Monitoring

As Internet use pervades our personal and professional lives, organizations have become increasingly concerned about employee use of the Internet for personal reasons while at work. This has prompted the restriction of the Internet or the limitation of the Internet during work hours. Monitoring of employee Internet and email is another result of this trend. Legitimate business functions such as employee performance appraisal and progress toward goals are served by monitoring. However, poorly designed and communicated monitoring practices can be negative and have perverse effects on employee morale and productivity. Monitoring of employees erodes trust and may be considered an invasion of privacy. In this paper ethical issues surrounding Internet monitoring are explored from two perspectives: university and business use. Survey results from the university perspective are compared with computer monitoring in a business setting. Students feel an invasion of privacy when a university setting monitors computer use, however they consider the practice of monitoring the workplace an acceptable invasion of privacy. Reasons cited for unethical monitoring at a university or business setting include: payment for the computer, personal property and possession by the student, and limitations of personal freedom, rights, trust and privacy. Reasons cited for the ethical use of monitoring include: academic use of the Internet, workplace requirements and payment for work, discouragement of hate crimes and terrorism, and university or employer property

Designing and Implementing a Balanced Scorecard: Lessons Learned in Nonprofit Implementation

The balanced scorecard has been referred to as the management innovation of the century, and extensive articles have been written using case studies of organizations that use this performance measurement system. This article addresses the key issues of design and implementation with a step-by-step guide to how to design a balanced scorecard and lessons to avoid implementation problems in government and nonprofit settings

Workplace Harassment: The Social Costs of Bullying

Most research on workplace bullying uses survey results to understand working conditions, target and bully characteristics, and results of bullying situations. This study uses content analysis to determine themes emerging from a writing assignment that asks students to respond to questions about workplace bullying. The intent of the research is to enable bullying targets to better understand the situation, to help managers to learn how to mitigate possible bullying situations, and to assist witnesses to better react to workplace incidents

Gender Bias in Internet Employment: A Study of the Effects of Career Advancement Opportunities for Women in the Field of ITC

Women as individuals experience subtle discrimination regarding career development opportunities as evidenced by research on the Glass Ceiling. This paper looks at the ramifications of technology, specifically the Internet, and how it affects women\u27s career opportunities