Reference no: EM13667027

The following is a five part question:
Part 1- The purpose of the Session Long Project is to give you the opportunity to explore the applicability of the module to your own life and work. This is done in a number of different ways-sometimes with cumulative papers, sometimes with practical hands-on experimentation, sometimes with reflections on a place of work or life. The common thread is personal application, aimed at demonstrating a cumulative knowledge and understanding of the course material.

For this course, the Session Long Project will take the form of putting together background from each of the four perspectives for a balanced scorecard approach to an organization or organizational unit with which you are familiar. In the final module (Module 5), you will have a go at strategy mapping. You won't be building a complete Balanced Scorecard-that would be far beyond our current scope-but you'll have a chance to see what goes into it and how it gets put together into a coordinated whole. As in the Cases, you'll be drawing on your previous coursework to help.

The Module 1 assignment has two parts. First, identify an organization in which you have access to at least some information concerning financial data, staffing and human resource systems, marketing and customer relations, information systems, and operations. While most material on the Balanced Scorecard is written from the private, for-profit point of view, it's perfectly possible to use this approach with public or non-profit organizations as well.

For the second part of this assignment, consider the organization's mission and strategy from the perspective of its financial operations (from your work on the Case, your previous coursework, and your background reading, you should be reasonably clear what such operations are). In this section of the assignment you'll begin to identify objectives and measures relevant to that perspective. If you're unclear on just what objectives and measures are, here is a presentation that describes what they are and how to write them: Objectives, Measures, Targets & Action Plans.

Part 2-For Module 2, consider your organization's mission and strategy from the perspective of its potential, prospective, and present customers. In this section of the assignment you'll begin to identify objectives and measures relevant to that perspective. Refer back to the presentation Objectives, Measures, Targets & Action Plans if you need to.Once you're reasonably clear on what's involved, think about your organization and its customers/clients/users/service recipients/whatever-you-wish-to-call-them, and then:
•Identify at least three objectives for the organization's customer service perspective and show how they relate to the mission, vision, and strategy of the organization.

• For each objective, develop at least one meaningful performance measure (metric).
• For each objective, identify at least one expected level of performance (target).

•For each objective, identify at least one new action or program that needs to be developed to ensure successful implementation of the organization's strategy (initiative).
•Comment briefly on the relationships of the customer service objectives that you've identified here to the financial objectives that you identified in the Module 1 SLP assignment. How do they help to fulfill those objectives? If they don't (and they don't have to), what makes them more important than objectives that would relate to finances?

• Finally, do you wish to make any changes to your Module 1 objective write-up in light of your Module 2 experience?

Here's a table that you may wish to copy and fill in. (The boxes are expandable; take all the space you need to be complete in your descriptions. No more than 2-3 pages should be necessary.)

Part 3-For Module 3, consider the organization's mission and strategy from the perspective of its internal business processes (from your work on the case, your previous course work, and your background reading, you should be reasonably clear what such business processes are). In this section of the assignment you'll begin to identify objectives and measures relevant to that perspective. Refer back to Objectives, Measures, Targets & Action Plans if you need to.

SLP Assignment Expectations

Once you're reasonably clear on what's involved, think about your organization and its business processes, and then:

Identify at least three objectives for improving the organization's internal business processes, and show how they relate to the mission, vision, and strategy of the organization.

• For each objective, develop at least one meaningful performance measure (metric).
• For each objective, identify at least one expected level of performance (target).

•For each objective, identify at least one new action or program that needs to be developed to ensure successful implementation of the organization's strategy (initiative).
•Comment briefly on the relationships of the process objectives that you've identified here to the finance objectives that you identified in the Module 1 SLP assignment and/or the customer service objectives that you identified in the Module 2 SLP assignment. How do they help to fulfill those objectives? If they don't (and they don't have to), what makes them more important than objectives that would relate to finance or customer service?

• Finally, do you wish to make any changes to your Module 1 or Module 2 objective write-ups in light of your Module 3 experience?

Here's a table that you may wish to copy and fill in. (The boxes are expandable; take all the space you need to be complete in your descriptions. No more than 2-3 pages should be necessary.)

Part 4- For Module 4, consider your organization's mission and strategy from the perspective of its learning and growth (from your work on the Case, your previous course work, and your background reading, you should be reasonably clear what such activities are). In this section of the assignment you'll begin to identify objectives and measures relevant to that perspective. Refer back to this presentation on Objectives, Measures, Targets & Action Plans if you need to.

SLP Assignment Expectations

Once you're reasonably clear on what's involved, think about your organization and its learning and growth processes, and then:
•Identify at least three objectives for improving the organization's learning and growth, and show how they relate to the mission, vision, and strategy of the organization.

• For each objective, develop at least one meaningful performance measure (metric).
• For each objective, identify at least one expected level of performance (target).

•For each objective, identify at least one new action or program that needs to be developed to ensure successful implementation of the organization's strategy (initiative).
•Comment briefly on the relationships of the learning and growth objectives that you've identified here to the financial objectives that you identified in the Module 1 SLP assignment, the customer service objectives you identified in Module 2, and/or the internal business process objectives you identified in Module 3. How do they help to fulfill those objectives? If they don't (and they don't have to), what makes them more important than objectives that would relate to customer service, business processes, or financial operations?

• Finally, do you wish to make any changes to your Module 1, 2, or 3 objective write-ups in light of your Module 4 experience?

Here's a table that you may wish to copy and fill in. (The boxes are expandable; take all the space you need to be complete in your descriptions. No more than 2-3 pages should be necessary.)

Part 5-As you recall, in MGT301 (Principles of Management), attention was given in SLP 5 to building critical thinking and problem-solving skills, along with information-literacy skills. In the SLP 5 assignment for MGT499 (Strategic Management), you had the opportunity to develop your business critical-thinking skills more fully by applying strategic management principles to your chosen organization in the process of addressing key stakeholders about strategic initiatives that may be of concern (older iterations of MGT499 focused solely on the shareholder).

And finally, in BUS499 (BSBA Integrative Project) you will focus your Module 5 SLP on honing your critical-thinking and information-literacy skills.

You've put a lot of work into your analyses of the four perspectives considered in the Balanced Scorecard process. Now it's time to put it all together! In this module, you'll be preparing an argumentative essay on the SLPs from Modules 1-4.

SLP Assignment Expectations

Utilizing Trident's library resources, identify at least one case study of an organization that utilizes a Balanced Scorecard approach, and three additional peer-reviewed papers on the topic of the Balanced Scorecard. Do some additional reading as well. Based on the case study found in the literature, conduct a critical analysis arguing whether your "SLP organization" would do a better or worse job of implementing the BSC approach. If your organization has already implemented BSC, then compare implementation success of your "SLP organization" with the case study from the literature.

In conducting your analysis formulate a thesis statement and provide a well-thought-out argument in a 3- to 5-page document that compares implementation as described in the case study with what you would expect out of your "SLP organization." Here are a couple of example thesis statements you might want to consider with appropriate revisions.
•Based on my review of [XYZ Corporation's] implementation of the Balanced Scorecard approach and review of recent BSC-related literature, I believe it would (or would not) be worth implementing the Balanced Scorecard approach in my SLP organization.
•Based on my review of the current literature I believe my chosen organization has (or has not) done a better job of implementing the Balanced Scorecard approach than [XYZ Corporation].

Compare and contrast the BSC implementation success of the organization outlined in the case study you found in your literature search with the success you would expect (or have experienced) in your chosen organization. Utilize the peer-reviewed papers to support your arguments. Above all, your arguments should be convincing and well supported by the literature.

Be honest! If you don't think your organization is up to the challenge, then say so and provide some academically based resources to support your claim. For instance, if you do not think the leadership of your organization would be able to pull it off, then find some leadership-based research to help support your claims. Remember, convincing the reader is key.

For Parts 1-4 please make each paper 2-3 pages (please don't use excessive spacing). Part 5 will need to be 4-5 pages. Cite sources using APA format.