Balanced Scorecard - How to USE Balanced Scorecard?

Since balanced scorecard is well known method, I'm not sure I do understand it completely.

I know about BSC principles and how to build a scorecard, but it's not clear for me how to _use_ these principles to do business. I'm running a marketing department.

Could one tell about good example of _using_ Balanced Scorecard.

Not that I recommend the practice (it's MBO in new clothes), but:
Balanced Scorecard Examples

Thank you for this link. But it's still the question. We can find hundreds resources that describe how to BUILD scorecard, but I still cannot find something that tells about USING Balanced scorecard.

It seems that via a little reverse engineering you could look at the linked examples and get a feel for it, but try this:
Implementing BSC

Thank you! This is a good article to start. I'll research it!

JSW05 said:

It seems that via a little reverse engineering you could look at the linked examples and get a feel for it, but try this:
Implementing BSC

Click to expand...

Good article and sample of how using balanced scorecard. But let’s discuss how to involve balanced scorecard in business process. The problem is that once we have all goals and measurements related to, for instance, “customers” we need to act.

I can design a Balanced Scorecard document that will include my goals and measurements description, but it’s a challenge to make company employees act for that goals. First these goals are approved by CEO, then managers use BSC document in their job and other employees might even don’t know what are BSC topics about.

Balanced Scorecard is good when everybody knows about your principles, goals and strategy. But what method should we use to let everybody know about BSC?

ed_caful said:

Balanced Scorecard is good when everybody knows about your principles, goals and strategy. But what method should we use to let everybody know about BSC?

Click to expand...

Maybe the Demingites are not paying any attention to this thread on BSC but I am surprised we have not heard from them. Balanced scorecards are just another way of setting targets by management. Putting posters on the wall and exhortations for the workforce to meet the goals will not make it happen.

Balanced scorecards have a number of problems associated with them including that it will not indicate normal variation in the process. Knowing how you did this month versus the target tells you nothing. Even knowing how you did versus last month tells you nothing. It would be better to identify your critical quality factors and collect data to understand the process over time using control charts.

You cannot "make company employees act for that goals" even if they are "approved by CEO" since only management can improve the process when only common cause variation is present (see the Red Beads Experiment).

Bill Pflanz

I have seen a balanced scorecard work pretty well in conjunction with a TQM philosophy at a company. We simply used the BSC to communicate the strategy for the company. Teams of people at all levels and in all departments worked together to create tactical plans to carry out the strategic direction.

I think the best thing about BSC was forcing us to have goals other than financial. It took the senior management a couple of years to get into it, but once they did, we had great goals for improving employee relations and the workplace.

Hello, guys!

I’m new to this forum, but I’m interested in Balanced Scorecard and want to join discussion. I think I understand both Ed (CA) and Bill Pflanz opinions.

We have heard a lot about Balanced Scorecard and want make this idea working. We heard that many Fortune companies use Balanced Scorecard and want to do the same, finally we want Balanced Scorecard to be a miracle that will bring us closer to action.

I think that BSC is a good way to generate a common thinking\strategy for company. BSC should be easily brainstormed by companies key managers, BSC shows be shared with other managers, people should get feed-back from those who work to achieve suggested goals.

I’m personally very interested in BSC and I would like to us qualitygoddess and other posters, how do you guys created BSC for your company? If you brainstorm it, if key managers were involved, if it is using non financial goals was useful?

I think that it’s a good topic to discuss!

Though I wouldn't want to put words in Dr. Deming's mouth, I do not feel that the balanced scorecard I looked at (Vinfen Corp) qualfied as target setting and exhortation as he decried in Point 10.

In my understanding, target setting is "We will improve profits 10% this quarter for our stakeholders" and exortations are those glossy posters that proclaim things like, "There is no I in TEAM!"

I recently saw one that said something about sticking together like snowflakes. The poster showed a tree heavily coated with frost, not snowflakes. Please...

In fact, what I saw (Vinfen example) looked like a TQM method of showing results of Fact Based Management and Strategic Planning. Depending on the means used to achieve the progress reported, other core principles of Deminguite type leadership and management could be well represented.

Many thanks to JSW05 for sharing those examples with us, because I have never seen this type of graphic example source before.

Kaplan and Norton's The Balanced Scorecard does a good job of explaining implementing BSC. Have you seen it, allangrlind? Chapters 7, 8 and Part 2's preface may give you better insight.