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In their previous book, The Balanced Scorecard, Robert Kaplan and David Norton unveiled an innovative "performance management system" that any company could use to focus and align their executive teams, business units, human resources, information technology, and financial resources on a unified overall strategy--much as businesses have traditionally employed financial management systems to track and guide their general fiscal direction. In The Strategy-Focused Organization, Kaplan and Norton explain how companies like Mobil, CIGNA, and Chemical Retail Bank have effectively used this approach for nearly a decade, and in the process present a step-by-step implementation outline that other organizations could use to attain similar results. Their book is divided into five sections that guide readers through development of a completely individualized plan that is created with "strategy maps" (graphical representations designed to clearly communicate desired outcomes and how they are to be achieved), then infused throughout the enterprise and made an integral part of its future. In several chapters devoted to the latter, for example, the authors show how their models have linked long-term strategy with day-to-day operational and budgetary management, and detail the "double loop" process for doing so, monitoring progress, and initiating corrective actions if necessary. --Howard Rothman
Book Description
In today's business environment, strategy has never been more important. Yet research shows that most companies fail to execute strategy successfully. Behind this abysmal track record lies an undeniable fact: many companies continue to use management processes-top-down, financially driven, and tactical-that were designed to run yesterday's organizations.
Now, the creators of the revolutionary performance management tool called the Balanced Scorecard introduce a new approach that makes strategy a continuous process owned not just by top management, but by everyone. In The Strategy-Focused Organization, Robert Kaplan and David Norton share the results of ten years of learning and research into more than 200 companies that have implemented the Balanced Scorecard. Drawing from more than twenty in-depth case studies-including Mobil, CIGNA, Nova Scotia Power, and AT&T Canada-Kaplan and Norton illustrate how Balanced Scorecard adopters have taken their groundbreaking tool to the next level. These organizations have used the scorecard to create an entirely new performance management framework that puts strategy at the center of key management processes and systems.
Kaplan and Norton articulate the five key principles required for building Strategy-Focused Organizations: (1) translate the strategy to operational terms, (2) align the organization to the strategy, (3) make strategy everyone's everyday job, (4) make strategy a continual process, and (5) mobilize change through strong, effective leadership. The authors provide a detailed account of how a range of organizations in the private, public, and nonprofit sectors have deployed these principles to achieve breakthrough, sustainable performance improvements.
Presenting a practical, proven framework steeped in rich case study experience, The Strategy-Focused Organization helps solve a universal management problem-not just how to formulate strategy, but how to make it work. Building on one of the most revolutionary business ideas of our time, this important book shows how today's leaders can shape their own companies to meet the challenges and reap the rewards of a new competitive era.
Robert S. Kaplan is the Marvin Bower Professor of Leadership Development at Harvard Business School. David P. Norton is President of Balanced Scorecard Collaborative, Inc.
Download Description
The creators of the revolutionary performance management tool called the Balanced Scorecard introduce a new approach that makes strategy a continuous process owned not just by top management, but by everyone. In The Strategy-Focused Organization, Robert Kaplan and David Norton share the results of ten years of learning and research into more than 200 companies that have implemented the Balanced Scorecard. Drawing from more than twenty in-depth case studies--including Mobil, CIGNA, and AT&T Canada--Kaplan and Norton illustrate how Balanced Scorecard adopters have taken their groundbreaking tool to the next level. These organizations have used the scorecard to create an entirely new performance management framework that puts strategy at the center of key management processes and systems. Kaplan and Norton articulate the five key principles required for building strategy-focused organizations: 1) translate the strategy into operational terms, 2) align the organization to the strategy, 3) make strategy everyone's everyday job, 4) make strategy a continual process, and 5) mobilize change through strong, effective leadership. The authors provide a detailed account of how a range of organizations in the private, public, and nonprofit sectors have deployed these principles to achieve breakthrough, sustainable performance improvements.
Customer Reviews:
Overview, technique and implementation.......2006-08-21
An outstandingly well written book that decribes the balanced scorecard and provides excellent examples. An effective, practical guide for C-level executives and mid-level managers for implementing strategic scorcarding. I recommned this book for the breadth and depth of the explanation of the subject matter and concise implmentation examples.
If you can measure it, you can manage it.......2006-02-28
The Balanced Scorecard was initially designed as a financial and non-financial corporate performance measurement tool. Organizations focused on strategy have taken the Balanced Scorecard and transformed it into a strategic tool for measurement. These 5 key principles transform the Balanced Scorecard:
Principle 1: Translate Strategy into Operational Terms. Describing the strategy of the organization, communicating it via the Building Scorecard in an insightful, consistent and operational manner is the cornerstone to putting strategy at the center of an organization. This principle accomplishes this by using the Balanced Scorecard to view strategy from 4 different perspectives: financial, customer, internal business processes, and learning.
Principle 2: Align the Organization to the Strategy.
The Balanced scorecard can link the many different and dispersed functions. It can clarify the values, beliefs and ideas that reflect the organization's identity, and clarify the actions mandated at the corporate level that create synergies at the business unit level.
Principle 3: Make Strategy Everyone's Everyday Job.
This principle, utilizing the Balanced Scorecard, focuses on three processes to align employees to the strategy: creating strategic awareness, defining personal and team objectives, and linking compensation to the Balanced Scorecard
Principle 4: Make Strategy a Continual Process.
The Balanced Scorecard creates a reporting system to monitor progress and serve as a link between managing strategy and managing operations. This system enables organizations to accomplish three things: link strategy and budget, close the strategy loop, and test, learn, and adapt.
Principle 5: Mobilize Change Through Executive Leadership.
The Balanced Scorecard helps executive leadership implement large scale changes that are necessary to implement new strategies. Specifically, it helps organizations specify, in detail, critical elements:
· Target customers where profitable growth will occur
· Value propositions that lead customers to do more business and at higher margins with the company
· Innovations in products, services and processes
· Investments in people and systems to enhance processes and deliver differentiated value propositions for growth
Highly Recommended!.......2005-06-20
The fact that executives keep trying new strategic initiatives despite their abysmal rate of failure is, like second marriages, a triumph of hope over experience. Or, it may indicate just how much pressure top managers face to improve their profits. By one estimate, nine out of ten companies fail to execute their strategic visions. Yet, CEOs - who witness a world in constant flux - continue to introduce change initiatives. Are they trapped in the operational definition of insanity: doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result? Or, are they just ready for this book? Authors Robert S. Kaplan and David P. Norton offer wise counsel to help executives break the cycle of strategic flops. They advise executives to transform their companies into "Strategy-Focused Organizations" using the "Balanced Scorecard" and "strategic mapping" tools. With these initiatives, CEOs can ensure that every employee pays attention to strategy implementation. Kaplan and Norton, the all-star co-author team who wrote "The Balanced Scorecard" and "Strategy Maps", have done it again, in this well-organized but somewhat dry volume. We strongly recommend this book to any manager who is responsible for designing or implementing a strategic change initiative.
Overblown and impractical.......2002-11-22
Having used the BSc a few times in my work, I expected this to be a hepful addition to my knowledge base in the area. I found that it added little to the author's other published tomes and to his articles in journals like HBR. Although the basic concept is sound, the implementation challenges are dealt with as you'd expect from an ivory tower-based profesoor and are several steps removed from the challenges that most of my real-world, and smaller company clients, need to address. I truly felt as though I didn't get my money's worth with this purchase and I should have stuck with the materials I already had by the author that was available in other forms. I would have saved time, money and a degree of frustration.
A must have tool for business improvement.......2002-05-23
If you're attempting to improve the way you do business, this book is a must have. It is a little dry so you have to be committed to using the concepts presented. If you can manage to stick with it, you will reap the benefits of the BSC. Good Luck!
Book Description
Introduces a new way of measuring and thinking about the contributions of individuals to business success.
Makes the case that the role of Human Resources is increasingly important, as company assets become more intangible and reliant on intellectual capital.
Provides a framework that focuses on identifying where Human Resources issues are performance drivers--or impediments--to strategy implementation.
Develops a measurement system that provides valid, reliable indicators of Human Resources' contribution to the success of strategy implementation, and ultimately to firmperformance.
Includes recommendations supported by clear and persuasive examples, as well as the authors' unique survey of 2,800 firms.
Customer Reviews:
How to determine the ROI of your organization's human capital.......2006-10-31
I recently re-read this book and have even higher regard for it now than I did I when I first read it soon after it was published in 2001. Becker and Huselid later co-authored The Workforce Scorecard with Richard W. Beatty. With rigor and eloquence, they examine three separate but related challenges: Perspective (with an emphasis on differentiation), Metrics (and their relationship to strategy execution), and Execution (which holds senior executives and line managers accountable for workforce success). They suggest that all organizations which successfully meet these three challenges (i.e. those which "do it right") have these six characteristics in common:
1. HR professionals spend less time on employee performance than they did five years ago
2. The relationship between workforce success and strategy implementation defines the ROI of new HR initiatives.
3. Creating a shared mind-set is not taken for granted.
4. The HR function has a staffing structure that effectively balances the tension between being a strategic partner and delivering efficient and effective HR services.
5. Strategic workforce measures are "owned" and coordinated by a single individual or task force.
6. Senior executives, line managers, and HR professionals consider the results of the measurement system worth the implementation effort.
Although it may seem to some who read this brief commentary that will be of substantial value only to large organizations, I hasten to reassure them that, after appropriate modifications, what Huselid, Becker, and Beatty recommend in The Workforce Scorecard can help any organization (regardless of size or nature) to improve the quality of their strategy execution by developing the right perspective on the contributions of its workforce to its success, and, by developing the right execution strategy to ensure that its managers are ready, willing, and able to use workforce metrics to drive business success.
It is important to keep these points in mind when reading The HR Scorecard and I strongly recommend that, if possible, The Workforce Scorecard be read in combination with it, preferably but not necessarily afterward.
Robert Kaplan and David Norton wrote three articles for Harvard Business Review ("The Balanced Scorecard," "Putting the Scorecard to Work," and "Using the Balanced Scorecard as a Strategic Management System") which led to a series of books in which their insights were developed in even greater depth. According to Norton who wrote the introduction to The HR Scorecard, in the New Economy, human capital is the foundation of value creation and that up to 85% of an organization's value is based on intangible assets. "This presents an interesting dilemma: The asset which is most important is the least understood, least prone to measurement, and, hence least susceptible to management." He goes on to commend the co-authors of The HR Scorecard for three specific contributions: their development of causal models which illustrate the relationship of HR value drivers with business outcomes and thereby take the Balanced Scorecard to the next level of sophistication; their research on the drivers of high-performance organizations to provide a framework to decision-makers with which to formulate and implement strategies for human capital growth; and finally, their insights into the competencies required by HR professionals, competencies which can enabler an organization to deliver on the promise of its measurement system.
In essence, the co-authors of The HR Scorecard identify and explain linkages - indeed the interdependence -- between and among people, strategy, and performance. Only by understanding these linkages and their independence can decision-makers in any organization (regardless of size or nature) accurately measure the nature, value, and impact of human capital on the bottom line.
Moreover, decision-makers can then make much more accurate measurement of each individual in terms of the value she or he adds to the organization and, more importantly, to those on whom that organization depends for revenue. Customers who purchase products, of course, and clients who purchase services but also members who purchase members and benefactors to contribute donations.
Here are two other substantial benefits of establishing and then maintaining a HR scorecard:
1. It can guide and inform hiring decisions which ensure that an organization increases its human capital with those to add new value
2. It can also guide and inform decisions concerning the allocation of tangible resources, especially when there are unexpected major developments (either threatening or promising) in the given organization's competitive marketplace.
When concluding their brilliant volume, the authors observe that while much of the work of an HR scorecard is technical, the delivery of the Scorecard is personal. "It requires that HR professionals design to make a difference, align their work to business strategy, apply the science of research to the art of HR, and commit to learning from constant experimentation. When you create the HR Scorecard, using the approach we describe, you are actually [begin italics] linking HR to firm performance [end italics]. But you will also develop a new perspective on your HR function, practices, and professional development. In measurement terms, the benefits will far outweigh the costs."
I presume to add two concluding suggestions of my own. First, that HR professionals use the Scorecard initially to measure their own performance so they can determine how, as individual executives, they can add greater value to their organization. Next, that all others in senior management also read this book as well as The Workplace Scorecard to increase their own understanding of (a) how and why to link people, strategy, and performance enterprise-wide and (b) how to manage human capital much more effectively (also enterprise-wide) when executing strategy.
A Wealth of Ideas.......2006-05-28
If you're in HR and need to establish measures for the value you add, this book contains a huge array of options for measurement. As a resource for "brainstorming" it's unparalleled.
Where the book breaks down is focus. As Jerry McAdams says, measure many things but reward a few. If HR were honestly to establish and maintain 100 measurements, how could even an airline pilot monitor that many gauges on the the dashboard?
It would have been much better if the authors had said, "These are the half-dozen key, even 'universal' measures of HR value-added." As it is, the reader has to wade through the enormous number of options furnished and hope that they've gotten it right.
Worse yet: with all these measures, HR takes "the easy way out" and suboptimizes, picking only those measures which make HR look good. If measures of self-aggrandizement is all we've accomplished, we've not helped our businesses at all.
We All need it.......2006-05-16
This book should be read by all HR Professionals.
I wont waste your time in reading the review, just order it, and do not hesitate.
I read it twice
This book is rapidly becoming an industry best practice framework.......2006-02-28
It has always been difficult to capture the impact of Human Resources on the company's performance. Unfortunately, most of the measures in use currently do not capture the HR contributions to a company's success. The authors argue that anew approach is necessary. One that captures the vital role that HR plays along with providing real measures that can show what contributions HR is making to the company's success.
This new approach involves reversing the traditional bottom-up method with a more comprehensive top-down approach. The implementation of strategy is the key. The authors submit that a company must develop an assessment system that measures HR contribution to the company's strategies and profitability. The authors developed a seven-step approach to implementing HR's strategic role:
Step 1: Clearly define business strategy
Step 2: Build a business case for HR as a strategic asset
Step 3: Create a strategy map
Step 4: Identify HR deliverables within the strategy map
Step 5: Align HR architecture with HR deliverables
Step 6: Design the strategic HR measurement system
Step 7: Implement management by measurement
In order to create the HR scorecard a company must measure: HR: deliverables, policies, processes, practices, system alignment, and efficiency. This represents one-part of the HR scorecard. Developing the scorecard is one part, implementing the scorecard is the other part. The authors recommend seven guidelines for implementing a scorecard:
· Lead Change
· Create a shared need
· Shape a vision
· Mobilize commitment
· Build enabling systems
· Monitor and demonstrate progress
· Make it last
Workforce Score card.......2006-02-14
The book has built on the key philosophy underlying the earlier book, The HR Scorecard: Linking People, Strategy, and Performance by Brian Becker, Mark Huselid, and Dave Ulrich, which was written with a view to align human resource activities with business strategy. The present book is a follow up of that one. In nutshell, it seeks to introduce a metric system that deals with behaviours, competencies and mindsets and culture necessary for workforce success, as also the way it influences the organizational performance.
The book helps differentiate workforce into various categories which necessitates reliable standards and measures. Developing these will help employees know as to what is expected of them.
The book is undoubtedly a fine contribution towards improving the effectiveness of operations and other managers; it will provide them potent ideas for better delivery of results. It even has the potential of raising the stature of the discipline of strategic HRM. It is well known that HR is presently in an hour of crisis as it has been subjected to tremendous pressure for outsourcing of its activities. The book's hallmark lies in its practical utility to managers. It offers specific guidelines for ensuring that effective measures are identified, accepted and used. The HR managers are bound to give regards for the metrics that have been suggested in this book. It will become one of the widely-read, used and referenced books in the time to come. The book is free from any jargon; yet its conceptualization is powerful. The central line of reasoning flows very well throughout the text. The illustrations and tables are extremely interesting. The book should be an essential reading for line as well as HR managers as they are jointly responsible for executing strategy. All those who are striving to build high-performance organizations must read this book.
Debi S. Saini
MDI, Gurgaon, India
Book Description
PRAISE FOR Balanced Scorecard Step-By-Step: Maximizing Performance and Maintaining Results, Second Edition
"As a practitioner and thought leader, Paul Niven is superbly bridging the gulf between BSC theory and application through hands-on experiences and real-world case studies. The book provides a practical road map, step-by-step, to plan, execute, and sustain a winning scorecard campaign. Easy to read . . . tells a powerful story with lessons learned/best practices from global customer implementations. Must-read for anyone interested in BSC or grappling with how to create a strategically aligned organization."
—Vik Torpunuri, President and CEO, e2e Analytix
"In Balanced Scorecard Step-by-Step, Second Edition, Paul Niven provides an intuitive and incredibly effective blueprint for transitioning strategic ambition to execution. Paul's pragmatic approach provides leaders with a tool for managing a company's journey from strategic ideas to world-class performance. The Balanced Scorecard is a masterful tool for guiding companies through transformation, and I speak from personal experience when I say Paul's blueprint works! It is the most effective guide I have seen. Balanced Scorecard Step-by-Step will serve any leader well if their ambition is to efficiently engage their teams in achieving a set of strategic goals."
—Allan A. MacDonald, Vice President, Sales and Customer Solutions Bell Canada National Markets
"Paul Niven has done it again!!! With this book, he has further operationalized the enlightened Balanced Scorecard concept into a fully functional system that optimizes business execution and performance!"
—Barton Johnson, President, Financial Freedom Senior Funding Corporation, The Reverse Mortgage Specialist
Customer Reviews:
Excellent guide for todays business leader.......2007-09-03
This book is an excellent guide for today's business leader, in helping him or her develop a comprehensive understanding of what is important to run a business, and also, what needs to be regularly tracked, managed and metered such that you are in tune with what is going on, and can steer successfully in the turbulent business climate of today. Hats off to Mr. Niven for his insights and understanding of business today, and the needs of the business leaders of today and tomorrow.
Step-by-step to answers.......2007-08-20
I really recommended this book to anyone who are interesting to implement BSC methodology. For those who has some BSC ground and try to put BSC in work this book will clarify each dilemmas they face by searching through BSC methodology (who, how and why?). It is the best guidelines to implement BSC because Niven drive us easily from the beginning of project to the implementation with all necessary data.
Book is easily to read and completely applicable.
Practical application of Kaplan and Norton.......2007-07-30
As a MBA (Enterprise) student I found this book very useful in the preparation of a balanced scorecard for an assessment. The book by Niven was well structured and informative with interesting stories of the author's application of the scorecard in real world settings. As someone who has limited experience in this area the book was very helpful in the initial stages of the preparation of a strategy map and scorecard. Consequently, I would recommend it to anyone who wishes to implement a scorecard as the text provides an excellent outline of the development of a scorecard.
Good Know How for inexperience colsultants.......2007-01-03
As we are trying to build up the Balance Scorecard in our company, we have read the material published by Norton and Kaplan and also we had trainig on BSC as well.
We have found this book useful because of the experience that the author transfer for new consultants that are in the begining of building up the strategy map and the scorecard, full of theory but no practice at all.
Well organized, well written....nice to read........2005-10-29
Mr. Niven has done an excellent job. It is easier and more entertaining to read his book than the books by the masters of BSC (Kaplan and Norton).
The book is well organized, the order of the topics is very logical and easy to follow. When he summarizes concepts, he does it very well, writing just enough to discuss the subject.
Implementing BSC is not an easy task, but with this book you have a very good guide.
I would say that Mr. Niven has outperformed his teachers!!!
Book Description
Business Process Management and the Balanced Scorecard shows managers how to optimally use the balanced scorecard to achieve and sustain strategic success even as the business environment changes. It exceptionally fills the gap between theory and application to facilitate the use of processes as a strategic weapon to deliver world-class performance.
Customer Reviews:
Process Improvement for the Process Manager.......2007-08-14
As a Process Manager, you sometimes get locked in to one approach to process improvement. Ralph Smith gives practical strategies with actual case study results that can be applied in virtually any organization. The concept of improving a business function without considering the constrictions in the total system will make every organization think more systemically for their process improvement effort. Excellent job!!
No so much about processes.......2007-05-28
This book is ok if you intend to understand how to set up an strategy, but it does not talk very much about how to manage processes and how to design them. Although the book is ok, it mainly talks about strategy.
In my opinion the title is a bit tricky.
Good approach!.......2007-03-27
Good, very graphic and explores a key relationship between BPM and balanced scorecard (as in practice happens in public and private sector), But,practical instruments are not enough in this version
Specifics and practicalities.......2007-01-25
I had the opportunity to read Ralph's book while he was delivering onsite Balanced Scorecard facilitation for my current employer. With more than a decade of experience in process improvement, and having read several books on linking process to strategy, I can say that Ralph has done a great job of distilling his consultative approach to the page, providing both the concepts behind his methods and guidelines for applying them to your own business scenarios in the pages of this book. I highly recommend both this book and Ralph's services, as he is an engaging and well-versed expert in the field.
Linking Strategy and Process.......2007-01-11
Ralph Smith says that his intention in writing this book as to "provide some common sense thoughts and implementation tips for process management and the balanced scorecard". He has done this, and done it very well. This book is packed with good practical suggestions about how to efficiently and effectively populate a Strategy Map. The link between process and strategy, ie between Business Process Management and the Balanced Scorecard (and Strategy Map), is also well made. In my own consulting work I have found that Strategy Maps can be an important key to process-based management. The Process perspective of the Strategy Map can be a portal into the processes of an organisation - both figuratively and, given the right modelling tool, literally. I would have liked to see more about how to first determine what are the core and supporting processes of an organisation; building a high level process model is a necessary step before you begin to analyse the processes. Smith's focus on the near forensic understanding of the context of a process is important and useful analysis techniques are described. Too often we leap in to modify (improve?) processes without knowing anything like enough about them. If you have an interest in finding out more about getting organisations to engage with process-based management, you need to read this book.
Book Description
Driving strategy through workforce performance In a marketplace fueled by intangible assets, anything less than optimal workforce success can threaten a firm’s survival. Yet in most organizations, employee performance is both poorly managed and underutilized. The Workforce Scorecard argues that current management and human resource practices hinder employees’ ability to contribute to strategic goals. To maximize the power of their workforce, organizations must meet three challenges: view their workforce in terms of contribution rather than cost; replace benchmarking metrics with measures that differentiate levels of strategic impact; and make line managers and HR professionals jointly responsible for executing workforce initiatives. Building on the proven model outlined in their bestselling book The HR Scorecard, Mark Huselid, Brian Becker, and coauthor Richard Beatty show how to create a Workforce Scorecard that identifies and measures the behaviors, competencies, mind-set, and culture required for workforce success and reveals how each dimension impacts the bottom line. Practical and timely, The Workforce Scorecard offers crucial lessons for leveraging human capital to achieve strategic success.
Customer Reviews:
Hard to understand.......2006-11-10
The book has some good information but it assumes you have read the other companion books and can be hard to understand sometimes.
How to increase the ROI of human "capital".......2006-02-26
It is more important now than ever before to measure human performance accurately and consistently, especially given the rapidly increasing use of outsourcing which requires effective supervision of those to whom important tasks are entrusted. Although this book was written primarily for HR executives, I think it can also be of substantial interest and value to other senior-level executives as they are challenged to determine organizational priorities and then to formulate strategies by which to achieve specific objectives. I agree with countless others that is it difficult (if not impossible) to manage what cannot be measured. I am also convinced that appropriate metrics must be selected, and, that primary importance must be placed on measurement of those initiatives on which success (however defined) depends. The authors of this book provide a cohesive, comprehensive, and cost-effective program by which workforce success can be monitored and measured.
According to Huselid, Becker, and Beatty, their analysis "begins by being clear about what we need to know. If we don't know what we need to know, we will never know it. Too often we measure what is easy rather than what is right....Second, knowing a lot about the wrong thing not only is unhelpful, but can be misleading. The Workforce Scorecard points out that not all customers, strategies, or products are equal, [nor are all employees or workforces]...The harsh reality of managing people is that differentiation must occur, with some employees more equal than others." I agree while presuming to add that those who add the greatest value to the given customers are those who add the greatest value to the given employer. This is what the authors have in mind when noting the difference between equity and equality: "Equity means that those who give more will get more; equality means that all will be treated equally."
In this context, I am reminded of Carla O'Dell's discussion of many of these same issues in If Only We Knew What We Know in which she asserts that there are in almost all organizations what she calls "beds of knowledge" which are "hidden resources of intelligence that exist in almost every organization, relatively untapped and unmined." She recommends a number of strategies to "tap into "this hidden asset, capturing it, organizing it, transferring it, and using it to create customer value, operational excellence, and product innovation -- all the while increasing profits and effectiveness." This is precisely what Huselid, Becker, and Beatty have in mind when explaining the importance of identifying and then obtaining the information needed for managing human capital effectively to execute strategy.
I wish it were possible to reproduce within this brief commentary Figure 1.1 (on page 4) and Figure 1.2 (on page 7) which brilliantly illustrate the essential components of "Managing Human Strategy" and "Workforce Success: The Impact of Workforce Strategy on Business Strategy Execution." In fact, all of the Figures which supplement the narrative facilitate and expedite frequent review of the authors' key points after the book has been read.
With rigor and eloquence, Huselid, Becker, and Beatty examine three separate but related Challenges: Perspective (with an emphasis on differentiation), Metrics (and their relationship to strategy execution), and Execution (which holds senior executives and line managers accountable for workforce success). The authors suggest that all organizations which successfully meet these three challenges (i.e. those which "do it right") have these six characteristics in common:
1. HR professionals spend less time on employee performance than they did five years ago
2. The relationship between workforce success and strategy implementation defines the ROI of new HR initiatives.
3. Creating a shared mind-set is not taken for granted.
4. The HR function has a staffing structure that effectively balances the tension between being a strategic partner and delivering efficient and effective HR services.
5. Strategic workforce measures are "owned" and coordinated by a single individual or task force.
6. Senior executives, line managers, and HR professionals consider the results of the measurement system worth the implementation effort.
Although it may seem to some who read this brief commentary that this book will be of substantial value only to large organizations, I hasten to reassure them that, after appropriate modifications, what Huselid, Becker, and Beatty recommend can help any organization (regardless of size or nature) to improve the quality of their strategy execution by developing the right perspective on the contributions of its workforce to its success, and, by developing the right execution strategy to ensure that its managers are ready, willing, and able to use workforce metrics to drive business success.
I presume to add two additional points of my own: First, whatever the given metrics may be, they must be applied consistently so that variances can be identified and then addressed in a timely and effective manner. Otherwise, it will be impossible to measure accurately, for example, the discrepancy (if any) between what is expected of an individual and her or his performance. The same applies to departments, divisions, and business units as well as to the entire enterprise within which they are located. Also, while agreeing that what cannot be measured cannot be managed, I think that some measurements are more important than others. Hence the importance of setting priorities and then adjusting their order of importance when circumstances change.
A must read for every HR and Business Leader........2005-10-27
Workforce Scorecard is an awesome addition to the Strategy collection focussed on HR.
The authors clearly drive home the message that one of the key's to Business success is the focus on HR Strategy and Execution of the same.
Helpful for my conceptual way of doing.......2005-09-01
I have a rather intuïtive, conceptual way of thinking , working and talking. This book helped me to translate my ideas and feelings about wrong and right into a very clear approuch. It will surely help me doing my job as a consultant ! In our bussiness we're already much into BSC en HR-SC. This WF-SC was the missing link for me, when I am helping organisations and leaders to be succesfull in the execution of their strategy.
The only thing that frighten me was the "A"-player, "C"-player logic. I meet to much people that do not feel responsable for their own carreer (employability) ... what must we (organisations, society, coaches ...) do to help these people to become "A"-players again. If they don't feel the need ... no one can help them ! And what if one day, I become a "C"-player ?
Philippe BAILLEUR
HR-Consultant
SD WORX - BELGIUM
Covers both academic principle and the needs of practical reality.......2005-07-04
Two Professors of Human Resource Management at Rutgers University and the Chairman of the Department of Organization and Human Resources of SUNY-Buffalo combine their knowledge in The Workforce Scorecard: Managing Human Capital To Execute Strategy, a guide written especially for business leaders and CEOs looking for a means to accurately assess their human resources and capital. Chapters address how to build an evenhanded and objective "workforce scorecard", the role of line managers, workforce metrics, ideal communication and learning programs for the workforce scorecard, how to focus on the goal of a more productive workplace through expert selection and management of human capital, and much more. A slightly general but solidly written treatise that covers both academic principle and the needs of practical reality.
Book Description
Return on Investment (ROI) remains one of the most challenging and intriguing issues facing human resource development and performance improvement professionals. Drawing on their expertise in developing and implementing ROI programs in human performance and training, Jack J. Phillips, Ph.D., Timothy W. Bothell and G. Lynn Snead demonstrate how you can effectively apply ROI to project management.
Today, almost every industry requires employees to manage multiple projects with competing priorities, critical deadlines, and unexpected interruptionsrendering everyone a project manager in some respect. Most employees feel the pressure of juggling any number of key projects simultaneously. Organizations have responded by investing large amounts of both time and money to improve project management, and most strive to justify the efforts and resources dedicated to improving this goal.
'The Project Management Scorecard' is a welcome relief for anyone managing a project or multiple projects, as well as the trainers, human resource development staff, or supervisors charged with measuring, evaluating, and managing project managers.
Project Management is one of the hottest topics in business management today, affecting nearly every individual in any organization across the globe. Let three HRD experts show you how to apply the hugely popular ROI process to the key organizational issue of successful project management including:
* Project management issues and challenges
* Measuring reaction and satisfaction
* How to calculate and interpret ROI
* Capturing business impact data
* Measuring skill and knowledge changes during the project
* Monitoring the true costs of the project solution
* Converting business measure to monetary values
* Forecasting ROI
The authors' step-by-step approach allows you to begin the ROI process immediately. Start measuring the success of your project management results today.
Three HRD experts show how to apply the hugely popular ROI process to the key organizational issue of successful project management.
Project Management is one of the hottest topics in business management today, affecting nearly every individual in any organization across the globe.
Customer Reviews:
Expectations Exceeded.......2006-07-16
This book has a mundane title but could be titled "Everything you ever wanted to know about project success and then some". The Project Management Scorecard focuses on how to evaluate and measure the success of project management solutions. Given that failed projects are far more common than successful projects, executives are investing more time and money in developing project managers. This book recognizes the challenges in measuring the return on project management investment and provides clarity and techniques on how to overcome this obstacle.
The book is very thorough in its examination of the problems, process, and solutions to measuring project management success. First the authors break down the problem into its component parts, then they take a look at the project management process steps, and finally they present multiple approaches on how to create an effective scorecard and to use it to achieve desired results. The book includes not only straight-forward steps to follow, but also questionnaires and forms that can be easily used. Success stories and case studies are also included to illustrate major points.
Some of the topics include the following:
o Project management issues and challenges
o Changing corporate cultures
o Measuring reaction and satisfaction
o How to calculate and interpret and ROI
o Capturing business impact data
o Measuring skill and knowledge changes during the project
o Monitoring the true costs of the project
o Converting business measure to monetary values
o Forecasting ROI
This book provides a straight-forward approach to setting up and measuring project success. The authors have taken an onerous topic and provided clarity through simple techniques that can be easily adopted. If implemented, the solutions presented should siginificantly contribute to overall organizational success.
Read it and start tailor, or design, own PM tools.......2005-12-10
I love this book! Why?
1. It is written in easy to read style, simple and direct; anyone with minimal PM expertise, culture will understand it
2. It is covering a wide range of tools and possibilities
3. Anyone can start design, or adjust her/his own tools immediately
4. A great refference for future, to come and review it from time to time
5. It is obvious the author has experience in practicing what he is preaching
Begginer PM practitioner will find a lot of good points, easy to catch and study for future.
Experienced PM experts will have an useful guide to improve or design their own PM tools and ideas to adjust their appeoaches and processes. Highly recommended!
How to create a "project management culture" .......2005-11-09
Having read and then reviewed three books co-authored by Robert S. Kaplan and David P. Norton (The Balanced Scorecard, The Strategy-Focused Organization, and Strategy Maps) as well as Paul R. Niven's Balanced Scorecard Step-by-Step, all of which I highly regard, I was especially interested in reading this book which the authors explain how to measure the success of project management solutions.
In the Preface, they assert that, currently, "there is no book that offers a comprehensive, practical presentation on a project management scorecard, using a process that meets the demands of [project managers, clients and senior managers who must approve project budgets, and evaluation researchers who develop, explore, and analyze new processes and techniques]. Most models and representations of the scorecard process ignore, or provide very little insight into, the two key elements essential to developing the scorecard: isolating the effects of project management solutions and converting data to monetary values." Others (notably Kaplan, Norton, and Niven) are far better qualified than I am to verify or dispute that claim. Of greater interest to me is how well organized and written this book is, and, how helpful I believe it will be, at least to project managers as well as to those who must approve project budgets. My Five Star rating speaks for itself.
Phillips, Bothell, and Snead present their material within four Parts: Setting the Stage (e.g. "Project Management Issues and Challenges), The Seven Measures (e.g. "How to Capture Business Impact Data"), Key Issues with the Measures (e.g. "How to Convert Business Measures to Monetary Values"), and Challenges (e.g. "Overcoming Resistance and Barriers to the Project Management Scorecard"). They conclude with an Appendix in which they suggest how to establish an effective project management culture. In it, they identify 16 "Best Practices" and include a brief case study example for each.
What I especially appreciate about this volume is the fact that the authors devote the bulk of their attention to explaining how to implement effectively the various concepts, strategies, and tactics they present. They are also to be commended for concluding each of the 16 chapters with a "Final Thoughts" section. This facilitates a convenient review when a reader wishes to review key points. In fact, I strongly recommend to project managers that they complete such a review at least every 90 days but, preferably, every 30 days throughout their project's duration.
As the authors correctly point out, "One of the greatest challenges is deciding which costs should be included in the project solution cost calculation. For some projects, certain costs are hidden and never included in the cost calculation. Our preference is a conservative one: Account for all costs, both direct and indirect."
There are several major cost categories:
Initial analysis and assessment
Development of solutions
Acquisition of solutions
Implementation and application
Maintenance and monitoring
Administrative support and overhead
Evaluation and reporting
For most projects, the authors recommend this sequence by which to convert data to monetary values:
1. First, define a unit of measure
2. Determine the monetary value of each unit
3. Calculate the change in performance data
4. Determine the annual rate (and amount) of change
5. Calculate the annual value of the improvement
"Costs are important and should be fully loaded in the ROI calculation. From a practical standpoint, some costs may be optional based on an organization's guidelines and philosophy. However, because of the scrutiny involved in the ROI calculations, it is recommended that all costs be included, even if this goes beyond the requirements of the policy."
In this volume, Phillips, Bothell, and Snead offer a wealth of information and counsel which can help achieve the ultimate success of almost any project in almost any organization. That success can then inform and guide efforts to create throughout the same organization a "project management culture."
Essential for PMOs and mature project organizations.......2002-05-12
This book is ROI-focused and integrates the people and process elements of project management with a balanced scorecard approach. One of the authors, Jack J. Phillips, has extensive experience and a large published body of knowledge in the domains of HR, ROI and scorecard development. This book has his touch, and covers the essentials of a mature project organization, what to measure and how to measure it.
The approach is as follows:
1. Measure:
* reaction and satisfaction
* skill and knowledge churn during the project
* implementation and progress metrics throughout the project
2. From the metrics capture:
* business impact data
* ROI
3. Identify both tangible and intangible benefits and apply them to an aggregate 'true cost'.
The book also shows how to translate business metrics to dollar values, build a business case, and communicate status, based on the scorecard, to clients and stakeholders. This is essential for anyone who is setting up or managing a program management office or who wants to improve internal project managment processes. It also provides one of the best methods for communicating status to clients and upper management.
Book Description
Improve the "Health" of Your Organization by Using the Right Metrics! The vast majority of companies use some form of balanced scorecard (performance measures), yet recent research suggests that most scorecards are based on singular, unsophisticated measurements, providing flawed data on the state of the organization.
Beyond the Balanced Scorecard: Improving Business Intelligence with Analytics, by Mark Graham Brown, provides managers with the right metrics for evaluating important aspects of performance that are not accurately tracked by most companies and government organizations.
Leaders will learn how to objectively measure:
Relationships with Customers Employee Satisfaction External Business Environment Supplier/Vendor performance Strategy and Financials This book will show you how to construct a performance index, as well as provide you with example metrics of various aspects of performance that are difficult to measure.
Customer Reviews:
Great read on scorecarding.......2007-09-10
I must say that I became a huge fan of Mark Graham Brown's after reading his book "Get it, Set it, Move it, Prove it", so of course I had to pick up his next book on analytics. What I like the most about Mark's books is that they are really easy to understand. He talks about real life examples from recognizable companies he has worked with in every industry. There are some great industry specific scorecard samples in the book which I found really informative. Whether you are just beginning your Balanced Scorecard or performance management initiative, Mark describes what is important to the success of your performance management initiative, key failures, best practises and how to develop your scorecard to reap the most benefit and success of your organizations strategic goals. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is just starting their performance management initiative or to anyone who wants to improve their scorecard.
Another Glowing Success.......2007-03-16
One of the key points I took away from Mark's new book is that analytics can form the basis of a dynamic approach to performance management. Dynamic in the sense that analytics can be adjusted to be more responsive to changing directions in the market, the economy, employee profile or whatever is important to the organization. Because an analytic is a composite or aggregate of sub-metrics, each sub-metric necessarily carries a weight that can be based on its importance to the company's business results. As business conditions inevitably change, such as the surfacing of a new competitive threat, the weights of the sub-metrics can be quickly changed to reflect their current significance. This can reduce or eliminate the need to create another scorecard. Not only can a scorecard be balanced, the aggregate analytics can be dynamically adjusted to indicate the affects that changes in business strategy have on business results; a sensible approach for remaining stable, yet agile in a turbulent business environment.
Book Description
Base your business decisions on up-to-the-minute "snapshots" of your company's performance. Because they can be customized to track indicators specific to your organization's success, Performance Scorecards are a busy manager's best resource for quickly aligning strategy and promoting behaviors that lead to desired results. Use them to gauge sales, employee satisfaction, quality-whatever factors most influence your company's progress. You'll be able to make better, more informed decisions, guide and manage shifts in business direction, and keep every employee focused on important business goals. Through their fictional account of manager Vince Sharp's use of the scorecards, Chang and Morgan show readers exactly how the process works. .
Customer Reviews:
Aimed at large orgs who might hire the authors.......2007-03-16
"Performance Scorecards" describes the process by which a fictional large company studies and then improves their system of performance measurement. The company already collects dozens of measurements, so the key challenge is to identify the most important and coordinate the process between departments and up and down the corporate ladder. The hero of this process is "Bob" a consultant who acts as facilitator. After reading this book I think most senior managers would be reluctant to tackle the process without a consultant like Bob. The authors are consultants and I would guess that they wrote this book mainly as a way to get new business.
As president of a company with just 17 employees, I was hoping for something simpler and more concrete. I need a list of useful performance indicators, with tips on how to measure them. This book didn't offer that.
I cannot recommend the book for a small organization. I give the book two stars, instead of one star, because it could be useful to a senior manager in a large company who is contemplating hiring a consultant to help overhaul the company's performance measurement system. The authors might be just the consultants you need.
Great to sell the idea of using Performance Scorecards........2006-03-05
This book acomplishes very well the task of "evangelizing" the use of Performance Scorecard in businesses.
The author used a similar to real life story, to illustrate the concepts behind implementing a Performance Scorecard in a department or division of a fictional company.
The story is well crafted and the reading is smooth and interesting. Tipically you will read in hours. It is a beginners book on the subject.
One point I would make concerning the subject encompassed in this book. The authors use as example a fictional company that already identified well it's mission and strategies, everybody in each position knows well what to do, what they don't know is how to organize their information so as to measure their performance. These definitions are typically the most difficult to make and are at the core of the business problem that may have to be attacked when implementing a Performance Scorecard. These definitions usually are obtained after the company have adopted a formal business strategy and revised it's processes. I think the authors might in the future add some explanation on these topics.
Simply & lucidly: the basics of performance measurement.......2005-03-06
What I like most about this little book is the simplicity and lucidity with which it demonstrates what performance measurement is fundamentally about. Embedded within a fictional but entirely realistic story about one company's discovery of performance measurement, is a straightforward methodology for designing and implementing a performance measurement system. Largely based around the principles of international business excellence models like the Baldrige Framework and the Australian Business Excellence Framework, the book captures some of the more important ideas of effective performance measurement, like linking measures to strategy and to each level of decision making in the organisation, involving people, focusing on trends and using them to make decisions.
It's audience is really those people starting out on their performance measurement journey, and doesn't address the more difficult and detailed aspects that those further along the journey typically struggle with, like more specific approaches to designing measures than brainstorming, the design of cost-effective collection of performance data, the most meaningful analysis and reporting of the data. But it sure does lay the right kind of foundation for a sophisticated organisational performance measurement system. This book is on my list of favourites for this topic.
Concise explanation of a performance management system.......2001-02-24
I've never read a better, more concise explanation of a beginning-to-beginning performance evaluation and management system. In fact, I surprised myself by getting a little wrapped up in the storyline of the fictional case study being used to illustrate the steps in the process.
"Page-turner" isn't a term usually applied to management books, but this one almost deserves it. The actual "story" itself is sometimes almost painful as fiction -- I really wish the authors had consulted a dialogue editor -- but the story acts as a thread to connect the key elements and illustrate some of the issues faced when building performance management systems.
The authors' thesis is that executives and managers spend too much time tracking too many performance indicators, often focusing time on unimportant measures or indicators outside their scope of control. Front-line employees and supervisors are uncertain what they're being measured against, and feel they are powerless to influence quality or efficiency.
The performance scorecards approach can be initiated at any management level. Through a series of data collection and staff meetings, goals, objectives, indicators, and responsibilities can be agreed upon. Each manager, project, and even many employees can have "scorecards" that interlock with everyone else's in the organization, reflecting the interdependencies required for organizational success.
There are six key steps in performance scorecards: Collect, Create, Cultivate, Cascade, Connect, and Confirm.
There are strong team-building aspects to this model. Not only does it stress interdependence, it also fosters decentralization of responsibility, authority, and accountability. Further, it encourages openness about results and how they are expressed and communicated.
The process does depend on a quantitative as well as qualitative expression of indicators and results. This may scare off some service organizations. However, the team-based, consensus approach to determining a way to translate the qualitative to the quantitative minimizes the friction and suspicions of "unfairness" in the process.
The process allows no wiggle room for the employee who says that a particular objective or outcome is not measurable. If it's not measurable, then it shouldn't be an objective, according to the authors.
The authors are consultants, and they stress the importance of a trained facilitator as part of the process. The investment is well worth the outcomes in employee morale as well as productivity and success in fulfilling a mission and being able to demonstrate it. The book contains numerous illustrations, figures, and a few tools to help the narrative explanation of the process.
Finally a Common Sense Approach.......2000-12-29
Outstanding summarizes this book very well! Richard and Mark have a very common sense yet powerful approach in helping organizations link their strategies, processes and people together. This book is very easy to read and difficult to put down. They explain their methodology through the use of an example in which an organization implements the scorecards, walking the reader through each of the six steps in scorecard development. I wish business leaders would read and implement this type of a system, forcing them to look closer at their processes and people and how they tie together to impact business performance. Highly recommend this to anyone for use in business, but could even be applied very well to one's personal life. Thanks guys!!
Book Description
The complete guide to analyzing and maximizing a company's balanced scorecard
Presenting the next step for balanced scorecard implementation, Balanced Scorecard Diagnostics provides a step-by-step methodology for analyzing the effectiveness of a company's balanced scorecard and the tools to reevaluate balanced scorecard measures to drive maximum performance. CEOs, CFOs, CIOs, vice presidents, department managers, and business consultants will find all the essential tools for analyzing a balanced scorecard methodology to determine if it's running at maximum performance and for seamlessly implementing changes into the scorecard.
Paul R. Niven (San Marcos, CA) is President of the Senalosa Group, a consulting firm exclusively dedicated to helping businesses get best-in-class performance. He is the author of two successful books, Balanced Scorecard Step-by-Step (0-471-07872-7) and Balanced Scorecard Step-by-Step for Government and Nonprofit Agencies (0-471-42328-9), both from Wiley.
Download Description
The complete guide to analyzing and maximizing a company's balanced scorecard Presenting the next step for balanced scorecard implementation, Balanced Scorecard Diagnostics provides a step-by-step methodology for analyzing the effectiveness of a company's balanced scorecard and the tools to reevaluate balanced scorecard measures to drive maximum performance. CEOs, CFOs, CIOs, vice presidents, department managers, and business consultants will find all the essential tools for analyzing a balanced scorecard methodology to determine if it's running at maximum performance and for seamlessly implementing changes into the scorecard. Paul R. Niven (San Marcos, CA) is President of the Senalosa Group, a consulting firm exclusively dedicated to helping businesses get best-in-class performance. He is the author of two successful books, Balanced Scorecard Step-by-Step (0-471-07872-7) and Balanced Scorecard Step-by-Step for Government and Nonprofit Agencies (0-471-42328-9), both from Wiley.
Customer Reviews:
Why Scorecards don't work - and how to solve it.......2005-10-06
Why do as many as half of all balanced scorecard users not achieve the results they hoped for? Doesn't the balanced scorecard work in practice?
David Niven is an expert on Balanced Scorecard and his first book was an easy-to-read, well-structured manual of how to make scorecards work: "Balanced scorecard - step-by-step" (2002). It bridged the gap between practice and theory - especially for newcomers to the concept.
In this new book, Niven tries to bridge another emerging gap. It is the gap between those questioning the usefulness of balanced scorecard, based on the many unsuccessful implementation attempts, and what people like Niven (and I) believe to be reality: that the scorecard framework remains sound, but must be instituted with rigor and discipline if you expect to get results.
Why aren't many scorecard users happy?
Niven believes that the trouble lies in the methods used to implement the Balanced Scorecard. Many firms have been lured by the seductive simplicity of the scorecard model, believing it could be easily implemented and produce results with a minimum of care and feeding. According to Niven, troubled implementations stem from many sources, e.g.
- A lack of executive sponsorship to reinforce the Scorecard's value within the organization,
- Tired [lagging] metrics reflecting the past with no regard to the drivers of future success, and
- Management systems that continue to reward unbalanced, largely financial, performance
How do we solve it?
Niven's approach is basically to put Kaplan and Norton's five principles of the "Strategy-Focused Organization" (2001) into a more practical approach. The messages, obviously, are the same. But Niven manages to make it easier to comprehend. And he challenges the reader throughout the book. The diagnostics dimension of the book is furthermore incorporated at the end of each of the nine chapters where we find self-assessment questions.
This week I went to a conference in Copenhagen where Harvard-professor Robert Kaplan spoke about the balanced scorecard. Kaplan, being one of the inventors, acknowledged that too many balanced scorecards did not succeed. It is a paradox, since the balanced scorecard was incepted to overcome to problem that strategies weren't properly implemented. But if the system (or scorecard) to finally make the strategy implementation work doesn't work either, then we're in real trouble. So is the concept, of course.
Kaplan's suggestion to make a successful implementation of the scorecard is - like Niven's - to view it as a change project. The change programme goes thru three phases: mobilization (unfreezing), alignment (change), and sustainment (re-freezing). Kaplan specified the details as described below:
1st phase: MOBILIZATION ("the case for change"):
Principle: #1 Mobilize change thru Executive leadership
Leadership objective: Achieve commitment at the top, build the executive team, and build the case for change
Core competency: The catalyst's role is to be a missionary. The action list includes to advocate, to educate, and to sell a new way of managing.
Management role: Executive education (the need for strategic execution) via conferences, in-house workshops, and readings.
2nd phase: ALIGNMENT ("early wins")
Principle: #2 translate the strategy into action, #3 align the organization.
Leadership objective: Define and clarify the strategy, specify long-term targets, and communicate to workforce
Core competency: The project team's role is as consultant and change agent. The action list includes to design strategy maps, to design scorecards/targets, to create alignment/cascade, and to overcome resistance.
Management role: Strategy maps, balanced scorecards, First Report, Link business and support groups to the strategy, and to rationalize initiatives
3rd phase: SUSTAINMENT ("irreversible momentum")
Principle: #4 Motivate the staff, #5 Govern the Organization
Leadership objective: Reinforce strategic message: Employees follow the leader, Enforce a performance-based culture: get results, and Lead the new management meeting
Core competency: The office of strategy management's role is to be the "chief of staff" (like in the military and government). The action list includes to install accountability, to shape the executive agenda, and to integrate governance.
Management role: Scorecard reporting system, HR processes aligned, Accountability and rewards aligned, and meetings focused on scorecard objectives and measures.
If you're interested in Balanced Scorecard, you should obviously read the original work by Kaplan and Norton. But I also recommend a very capable book by the Swedes Olve et al (2003) - "Making Scorecards Actionable: Balancing Strategy and Control" - that also focuses on why balanced scorecards go wrong - and what to do about it.
If you're even more interested in performance measurement systems, then do also consider "Performance Prism" by Neely et al (2002) that takes performance systems to the next level. Personally, I don't believe they've designed balanced scorecard's successor, but they have many interesting perspectives on stakeholders, choice of measurements, and the relationship between cause and effect.
Peter Leerskov,
MSc in International Business (Marketing & Management) and Graduate Diploma in E-business
Product Description
Two fundamentally different business models of capitalism are operating in the business world today. One is self-destructive and increasingly corrupt. The other is emergent, flourishing, and inspirational. The author explains the differences between the two and reveals the extraordinary results of the more successful model. Profit for Life draws on nearly forty years of research on the empirical connections between stewardship and profitability.
Customer Reviews:
Review of Profit for Life: How Capitalism Excels by Joseph H. Bragdon.......2007-04-08
Profit for Life shatters the old paradigm that success in business means sucking the life from people and natural resources by viewing both as dispensable commodities. By showing us how success in business--including big business--goes hand-in-hand with respect for human and natural communities, Bragdon frees us from the wrenching misconception that profit and citizenship represent a kind of zero-sum game.
Bragdon unites head and heart in one of the most uplifting books I have ever read. Profit for Life offers hope with a firm footing. I recommend Profit for Life to anyone with an interest in business management, strategic investment, or corporate citizenship.
Daniel D. Dutcher, J.D., Ph.D.
Project Director
The Clean Energy Group
Montpelier, Vermont
Book Review for Profit for Life: How Capitalism Excels.......2007-01-31
Book Review for Profit for Life: How Capitalism Excels
by Ann McGee-Cooper
How do you measure the value of servant leadership in business? How can we know it works? These have been two of the most frequently asked questions in our consulting practice over the past 30 years.
In Profit for Life, Jay Bragdon provides us with some compelling answers. He does this by setting aside much of the linear cause-and-effect thinking that drives business these days, and adopts a more rounded, holistic approach that gives us deeper insight into the firm.
The book is based on the experiences of 60 companies - Bragdon's "learning lab" - that broadly represent the industry/sector diversity of the world economy. Throughout the text he describes 16 of these pioneering companies, called the Focus Group. The distinguishing feature of all these firms is their effort to mimic living systems - in the ways they organize, manage and add value. This mental model is radically different from the traditional one that views the firm as a money making machine.
Although it may seem counter intuitive, the living system approach yields vastly superior results than the traditional one. For example, the average equity return of learning lab companies was nearly double the S&P 500
Strategy & Competition
| Management & Leadership
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
| Books
The Balanced Scorecard: Translating Strategy into Action
Strategy Maps: Converting Intangible Assets into Tangible Outcomes
Alignment: Using the Balanced Scorecard to Create Corporate Synergies
Balanced Scorecard Step-by-Step: Maximizing Performance and Maintaining Results
Balanced Scorecard Step-by-Step for Government and Nonprofit Agencies
