Balanced Score Card Research Paper Samples

The balanced scored card is a strategic tool that transforms the mission and strategy of an organization into a set of performance metrics that provide a basis for performance measurement and control (Niven, 2010). Traditional control techniques focused on financial metrics. The performance of an organization was, therefore, measured in terms of financial metrics such as net profit and total sales, among other financial measures (Niven, 2010). The difference between the balanced scorecard and traditional methods is that it goes beyond financial metrics. The balanced scorecard uses four aspects to evaluate the performance of an organization. These aspects include financial, customer, internal business process, and learning and growth perspectives.
The financial perspective focuses on the financial performance of an organization in a given period. It includes the profitability of the firm’s operations. In this perspective, the performance of the business is evaluated based on the set financial targets. In addition, the financial metrics can be compared with those of competing firms or industry benchmarks. The customer perspective is concerned with the satisfaction of customer needs. An organization is considered to be doing well if it meets customers’ expectations (Niven, 2010). The internal business perspective measures the efficiency and effectiveness of the business internal procedures and processes. Internal efficiency is critical to the success of any business. Learning and growth perspective measures how well a firm is developing and improving the skills of employees, and the organization as a whole. It evaluates the training programs and other development plans.
The balanced scorecard can help an organization in creating and implementing change. Organization change affects all stakeholders in the organization hence it is important to involve the relevant stakeholders. This tool facilitates change as it considers all the four perspectives thus including all the stakeholders affect. It explores the effects of a planned change in all the four perspectives and establishes measures to enhance adaptability. For instance, it will assess the impact of a proposed change in the learning and growth perspective that involves employees. The management can, therefore, address employees concerns thus reducing the expected resistance to change.

Delivery and discovery person, barriers to change

A discovery person is one that invents or comes out with a new idea. A delivery person is one who successfully implements an innovation or an idea. A great discovery person may not be able to implement an idea successfully. This is because implementation of an innovation involves several aspects such as relating to employees, financial management, project management and conflict resolution, among other aspects of management. A person may be great in discovery but may lack managerial skills to implement an innovation and achieve its intended objectives.
Barriers to change include resistance from employees. If employees are not comfortable with a proposed change or innovation, it is unlikely to succeed (Kreitner, 2009). In addition, lack of understanding of the importance of a change may cause resistance to change. For instance, the executives of an organization can only support an innovation of proposed change if they do not understand the need for the change in terms of its expected benefits to the firm. Poor attitude of top managers can also bar organization change (Kreitner, 2009). Some managers always feel threatened by the change process as they fear losing power to an innovative employee.
Some of the above barriers to change are difficult to overcome since they result from institutional structures (Kreitner, 2009). Some organizations have the culture of opposing changes as most stakeholders do not want to get out of their comfort zones. In this case, overcoming the barrier will involve transforming the organization culture that is a complicated process. In addition, barriers coming from the top management are difficult to overcome since the top managers are the ones having the authority or power to make decisions. Changing the attitude of top managers is also difficult. Moreover, some changes have undesirable consequences on individuals, even though, the impact on the entire organization may be favorable. For instance, unskilled employees will always resist the introduction of machines that will render them redundant.

How to promote higher learning in the classroom

Higher learning in the classroom can be enhanced by encouraging student engagement. Student participation enables the tutor to address the questions of students concerning a particular topic (Cerbin, 2012). One way of improving student engagement is to enhance their self-confidence. The teacher can increase participation by giving them some control, over the learning process. It will enable them to act as their learning agents thus motivating them to engage and improve learning.
In addition, developing and fostering a good relationship with and among students can help a teacher to enhance student engagement. Social skills are an important aspect of learning hence nurturing relationships will enhance learning. Group assignments and group discussions will enable students to improve their social skills.
Higher learning in the classroom can also be improved by making learning as practical as possible (Cerbin, 2012). The teachers should give the students an opportunity to put theories into practice. In this case, teachers should use simulated problems to explain theoretical concepts. For instance, a lesson on barriers to organizational change can be made more practical if a proposed change in the course regulations.

References

Cerbin, B. (2012). Lesson study: Using Classroom Inquiry to Improve Teaching and Learning in Higher Education. Sterling, Va.: Stylus.
Kreitner, R. (2009). Principles of management. Mason, Ohio: South-Western.
Niven, P. (2010). Balanced scorecard step by step: Maximizing Performance and Maintaining Results (2nd ed.). New York: Wiley.