Organisational Behaviour Essay Example for Free

Organisational Behaviour Essay The concept of the balanced scorecard (BSC) was first introduced by Robert S. Kaplan and David P. Norton (1992) in their now widely cited Harvard Business Review article, â€Å"The Balanced Scorecard—Measures that Drive Performance.† The widespread adoption and use of the BSC is well documented. For example, Kaplan and Norton (2001) reported that by 2001 about 50% of the Fortune 1000 companies in North America and 40% to 45% of companies in Europe were using the BSC. The basic premise of the BSC is that financial results alone cannot capture value-creating activities (Kaplan Norton, 2001). In other words, financial measures are lagging indicators and, as such, are not effective in identifying the drivers or activities that affect financial results. Kaplan and Norton (1992) suggested that organizations, while using financial measures, should develop a comprehensive set of additional measures to use as leading indicators, or predictors, of financial performance. They suggested that measures should be developed that address four perspectives: 1. The financial perspective. Measures in this perspective should answer the question, â€Å"How should we appear to our shareholders?† 2. The customer perspective. These measures should answer the question, ABSTRACT. Although the application of the balanced scorecard (BSC) in the business sector is well documented, very little research has been reported regarding the adaptation or application of the BSC in the education sector. In this article, the authors (a) describe how the Baldrige Education Criteria for Performance Excellence has adapted the concept of the BSC to education and (b) discuss significant differences as well as similarities between the BSC for business and the BSC for education. The authors also present examples of the BSCs of three Baldrige Education Award recipients. financial performance (Kaplan Norton, 1996). Thus, the BSC enables managers to monitor and adjust the implementation of their strategies and to make fundamental changes in them. The Baldrige National Quality Program: An Overview The Baldrige National Quality Program is the vehicle of implementation of The Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Improvement Act of 1987–Public Law 100–107. This law was enacted on the basis of a set of â€Å"Findings,† one of which was that [T]he leadership of the United States in product and process quality has been challenged strongly (and sometimes successfully) by foreign competition, and our Nation’s productivity growth has improved less than our competitors’ over the last two decades. (Baldrige National Quality Program, 2003a, p. 61) â€Å"How should we appear to our customers?† 3. Internal business processes perspective. Measures in this perspective should answer the question, â€Å"What processes must we excel at?† 4. Learning and growth perspective. These measures should answer the question, â€Å"How can we sustain our ability to change and improve?† A critical factor for an effective BSC is the alignment of all the measures in the four perspectives with the company’s vision and strategic objectives. The BSC allows managers to track short-term financial results while simultaneously monitoring their progress in building the capabilities and acquiring the intangible assets that generate growth for future The primary objective of the Baldrige Program is to help American businesses improve their competitiveness in the global market. Businesses can improve their competitiveness by identifying role-model organizations, recognizing them, and disseminating their best practices throughout the United States. The Baldrige Program is widely recognized as a very significant factor in strengthening U.S. competitiveness in the global market. In its 1995 report Building on Baldrige: American Quality for the 21st Century, the Council on Competitiveness made the following statements: â€Å"The Baldrige National Quality Award and its state and local offshoots have been key to the effort to strengthen U.S. competitiveness† and â€Å"The Baldrige Award Program, having galvanized U.S. quality efforts, is now positioned to become the vehicle to stimulate and coordinate efforts to expand quality as a national priority† (Council, p. v). The Council (p. 22) also stated that it â€Å"is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization of chief executives from business, higher education and organized labor who have joined together to pursue a single overriding goal: to improve the ability of American companies and workers to compete more effectively in world markets, while building a rising standard of living at home.† In 1995, The Council was chaired by Paul Allaire, CEO, Xerox, with Thomas E. Everhart, President, California Institute of Technology, and Jack Sheinkman, President, Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union, AFL-CIO, CLC, as vice-chairmen. Recipients of the Baldrige Award are obligated to present their â€Å"best practices† at one national and two regional conferences. In addition to these obligatory presentations, there is a great demand for additional presentations. Through 1998, past Baldrige Award recipients made approximately 30,000 presentations. The centerpiece of the Baldrige Program is the Criteria for Performance Excellence. These criteria define a stateof-the-art management model that integrates the following seven areas into a comprehensive system: leadership; strategic planning; customer and market focus; measurement, analysis, and knowledge management; human resource focus; process management; and business results. In Figure 1, we show the framework of the criteria in a systems perspective. The criteria maintain currency through annual revisions and improvements that incorporate emerging issues and best practices (Baldrige National Quality Program, 2003a). The criteria place heavy emphasis on the development of a comprehensive measurement system that is aligned with the company’s strategic objectives. The measurement system yields results in the following areas (Baldrige National Quality Program, 2003a): 1. Customer-focused results 2. Product and service results 3. Financial and market results 4. Human resource results 5. Organizational effectiveness results, including key internal operations performance measures 6. Governance and social responsibility results Clearly, this set of results is consistent with the basic concept of the BSC. The financial and market results are the only lagging indicator and cover the BSC’s financial perspective. The customerfocused results obviously cover the BSC’s customer perspective. The product and service results together with the organizational effectiveness results cover the BSC’s internal business perspective. The human resource results cover the BSC’s learning and growth perspective. The governance and social responsibility results were added in 2003 and represent a new perspective in view of the recent, well known collapses that giant corporations experienced owing to unethical practices. The Baldrige Education Criteria for Performance Excellence In 1995, the Baldrige National Quality Program began the process of converting the business criteria for use in the education sector. This process culminated in the development of the Education Criteria for Performance Excellence and with Congressional approval of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award for Education in 1999. In Figure 2, we show the framework of the education criteria in a systems perspective. Clearly, this framework is very similar to that of the business criteria shown in Figure 1. In 2001, three educational institutions became the first recipients of the Baldrige Award. The BSC in the Education Criteria for Performance Excellence Although the concept of the BSC has been widely adopted and used in the business sector, the education sector apparently has not embraced the BSC concept widely, as indicated by the dearth of published research on this topic. A thorough review of the literature yielded few significant publications. For example, Cullen, Joyce, Hassall, and Broadbent (2003) proposed that a balanced scorecard be used in educational institutions for reinforcement of the importance of managing rather than just monitoring performance. Sutherland (2000) reported that the Rossier School of Education at the University of Southern California adopted the balanced scorecard approach to assess its academic program and planning process. Also, Chang and Chow (1999) reported that responses in a survey of 69 accounting department heads were generally supportive of the balanced scorecard’s applicability and benefits to accounting programs. The importance of measurement permeates the Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence. The focus on measurement in the criteria first appears in the set of â€Å"Core Values and Concepts.† These factors comprise the philosophical foundations of performance excellence and are as follows (Baldrige National Quality Program, 2003b): 1. Visionary leadership 2. Learning-centered education 3. Organizational and personal learning In the â€Å"focus on the future† core value, the criteria state that â€Å"a major longer-term investment associated with your organization’s improvement is the investment in creating and sustaining a mission-oriented assessment system focused on learning† (Baldrige National Quality Program, 2003b, p. 3). The criteria recommend that organizations use both (a) formative assessment to measure learning early in the learning process to allow for timely intervention, if needed, and (b) summative assessment to measure progress against key relevant external standards and norms regarding the knowledge and skills that students have (Baldrige National Quality Program, 2003b). In the â€Å"management by fact† core value, the criteria make the following statement: â€Å"A major consideration in per-formance improvement and change management involves the selection and use of performance measures and indicators. The measures or indicators you select should best repres ent the factors that lead to improved student, operational, and financial performance. A comprehensive set of measures or indicators tied to student, stakeholder, and/or organizational performance requirements represents a clear basis for aligning all processes with your organization’s goals† (Baldrige National Quality Program, 2003b, p. 4). The congruence of the portion in italics with the basic premise and the perspectives of the BSC is clear. In the â€Å"focus on results and creating value† core value, the criteria state that â€Å"the use of a balanced composite of leading and lagging performance measures offers an effective means to communicate short and longer term priorities, monitor actual performance, and provide a clear basis for improving results† (Baldrige National Quality Program, 2003b, p. 4). The criteria make the following statement in the â€Å"systems perspective† core value: â€Å"Alignment means using key linkages among requirements given in the Baldrige Categories to ensure consistency of plans, processes, measur es, and actions† (Baldrige National Quality Program, 2003b, p. 5). The 11 core values and concepts are embodied in the following seven categories: 1. Leadership 2. Strategic planning 3. Student, stakeholder, and market focus 4. Measurement, analysis, and knowledge management 5. Faculty and staff focus 6. Process management 7. Organizational performance results In Figure 2, we show the framework connecting and integrating these seven categories into a comprehensive system. In describing Figure 2, the criteria state, in part, that â€Å"Measurement, Analysis, and Knowledge Management (Category 4) are critical to the effective management of your organization and to a fact-based system for improving performance.

The rainbow with the pot of gold :: essays research papers

We live in a world where ‘education’ and the accumulation of skills have assumed fanatical proportions. We tch tch at heavy school bags, but continue putting noses to the grindstone. Always in the hope of the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Except, that in the first decade of the 2000’s the way to that pot is no luminescent rainbow. And the sad part is, it needn’t be so. The proof of the pudding -- the training experience of companies including U.S.A.-based AT & T’s National Product Training Centre and Audi, IBM and Seimens in Germany; Pentagon’s Institute of Defense Analysis; and teacher Charles Gritton’s efforts in a Des Moines ghetto school that became a case study of success. Putting the ‘no pain, no gain’ credo of learning to shame is the concept of accelerated learning, perhaps more famous as ‘superlearning’ following breakthroughs made by Sheila Ostrander, Lynn Schroeder and Nancy Ostrander since the 1970’s. However, the ball was actually set rolling about a decade before they started. It was behind the Iron Curtain in the 1960’s that Dr. Georgi Lozanov, a Bulgarian psychiatrist, first applied suggestion and relaxation techniques to classroom learning and termed these methods ‘Suggestopedia’. These pioneering techniques engendered and gave impetus to what we now know as Suggestive – Accelerative Approaches to Learning. Accelerated learning believes that the human brain can work at least two to five times faster (‘superlearning’) and retain more and for longer periods (‘supermemory’ or ‘hypermnesia’) if it is put into the ‘right state’ of â€Å"relaxed alertness† (therefore non-stress, therefore pleasure) for learning. In a nutshell, it works by addressing our unconscious as well as our conscious mind, exploiting the power of our own imagination since it has been found that a trained imagination helps learn better – thereby aiding in accessing what are termed as the â€Å"success patterns† in our bodies, minds and emotions. Significantly, ‘superlearning’ shows us how to relax our body and calm our mind at will. It is sometimes described as â€Å"global learning† since it involves our entire inner world, including parts repressed in older styles of education, and goes to the extent of our most ancient memory of life, exactly according to nature’s blueprint for us. Moreover, it is global in the sense that the techniques can be adapted and used in virtually any culture to learn virtually anything, age and background no bar. It

When i grow up

Like many toddlers, I was fascinated by building blocks. They held me spellbound for hours on end and pushed me to make some imaginative, if not structurally unsafe buildings. I thus grew up with a great passion for architecture, and was very certain I would one day be an architect. But as I drifted into Secondary school, my interests changed. History, among all subjects captivated me the most. I grew very much interested in the past, and as I went from â€Å"Ancient Egypt† to â€Å"Communist Russia† I ound myself captivated by the running of the world.Current affairs became my interest and I deviated from the cartoons in the newspapers to ground-breaking articles on the front page. As years passed, however, Diplomacy as a career seemed more interesting and engaging to me†mostly due to the many sensational events that took place (the Iraq War, the Chernobyl disaster, and the like). Gone were the dreams of building a sky- scraper or discovering a lost civilization; I had a burning passion to be something ther than the usual doctor lawyer or businessman†being a diplomat would fit the bill perfectly.A career as a diplomat would be ideal for me because it involves so many great opportunities: travelling around the world; learning how other countries function; getting a chance to interact with people of different cultures. Most of all, it means I can do what I love, that is, immerse myself in the current affairs of the world, and get paid for it. Most people see a diplomat as person who simply enjoys life abroad on taxpayer's money. I completely disagree with this view.Diplomats are often involved in handling issues could mean war or peace. It is this kind of challenge that makes feel even more inclined towards thus career. I also would like to be a diplomat because it would give me the opportunity to meet world leaders who I have grown up reading books about Would you like a career that is different, active, fresh and can fulfill some of y our real reams? Being a diplomat is more than an ideal career for me, it's a Job that will help to help others.More than that, it is a chance to make the world a safer place. Imagine peace in the Middle East, an America with more humility and peace treaties that do what they set out to do†all this can be achieved through the diplomat's skill of perception, knowledge of the past and the ability to listen. Look out for my name in the future†I do hope you will come to know and respect it. when i grow up By abdulgolden When I Grow Up When I grow up I would like to be a nice and caring Pediatrician (Physician). A pediatrician is a child's physician. I chose this wonderful job because I love children and I want to help them. The one thing I like most about kids is their creativity. They generally have a really open mind and are able to come up with some very interesting solutions to things that older people, would never come up with.I loved being a small kid, I had a lot of attention from my family, did not have to stress out about anything, and most importantly I did not have to go to school. To be honest, I am still a little scared about going to the doctor. When I went once to get the flu shot I was really scared, but before I knew it, it was over. The doctor made me feel so good about myself, she made me feel strong. Then, I looked up at my dad and said this â€Å"daddy, I want to be a nice and caring pediatrician like her†.Duties/Obligation(s)A pediatrician has a lot of duties /obligations even if they are general pediatrician. He/she supervises their support staff to see that the office runs professionally and efficiently. They also need to make sure they provide care for infants, children, teenagers, and young adults. They diagnose and treat infections, injuries, genetic defects, malignancies, organic diseases, and dysfunctions.Large part of a pediatrician's job involves treating illnesses. These can be everything from everyday illnesses such as colds and strep throat, to milestone childhood diseases such as measles, mumps and chicken pox. A pediatrician examines the patient first, next orders tests if needed, and then analyzes test results, last diagnoses the illness and decides on a treatment plan.Education/Special Skills RequiredTo become a Pediatrician you first need to pass the General Education Development. Classes like biology, physics, and chemistry will prepare you for the type of coursework you will be studying in medical school. Then you graduate from a four year univ ersity (collage). Next you take the Medical College Admission Test (MCAT). The MCAT is a standardized multiple-choice test that is required for admission to medical school. Finally finish medical school. Most medical school programs are four years long. Once you have graduated from medical school, you will need to complete a three year pediatric training program at a hospital before you can start your own practice.Last you need to get board certified, which means you can be a pediatrician now. But there are some important qualities you must have. Like communication skills, Pediatricians need to be excellent communicators. They must be able to communicate effectively with their patients and other Healthcare support staff. They also need patience. Pediatricians may work for long periods with patients who need special attention. Children and patients with a fear of medical treatment (like me) may require more patience.But most importantly problem solving skills, they need to evaluate p atient’s symptoms and administer the appropriate treatments. They often need to do this quickly in order to save a patient’s life. Before you go into all these you need to have demanding education and training requirements.Salary ExpectationsAnother thing of why I want to be a pediatrician is because of how much salary I get. Though the average salary of a pediatrician is around $142,585 per year, that is only a range .Now 10% of pediatricians get $41.78 every hour they work, but on the other hand 25% of pediatricians get $59.18 every hour they work. What I am really happy about is that 50% of pediatricians get $74.34 every hour they work. In the future 4.2% of pediatricians will get $80.59 hourly, which means when I grow up I have chance of getting that much money.Depending on the country and place you live will change or maybe stay the same of your salary. Like if I live in Baton Rouge, LA I would earn $118.81 hourly. But if I live in San Diego-Carlsbad-San Marcos, C A I would get $76.40. Since I am hoping to be the manger I will have to spend some of my salary on stickers toys and stuff  like that to make my patients happy and make sure they come back to me whenever they get sick or ill. Also I would need to give salary to my employments. This means, I need to work a lot of hours and be a great doctor/ manager.

Surname Herrera Meaning and Origin

Derived from the Spanish herrerà ­a, meaning place where ironwork is made, the Herrera surname means worker in iron, a blacksmith. According to the Instituto Genealà ³gico e Histà ³rico Latino-Americano, this Castellan surname originated in the Villa of Pedraza, in the province of Segovia, in Castile and Leon, Spain. Herrera is the 33rd most common Hispanic surname. Surname origin: ï » ¿Spanish Herrera may also be seen spelled as Herrero or Herera. Famous People With the Surname Herrera Odubel Herrera - Venezuelan professional baseball player/Caroline Herrera - Venezuelan fashion designer; married to Reinaldo Herrera.Paloma Herrera - Famous Argentine ballerina. Genealogy Resources for the Surname Herrera Genealogy.com is a popular genealogy forum for the Herrera surname to find others who might be researching your ancestors, or post your own Herrera query. Find records, queries, and lineage-linked family trees posted for the Herrera surname and its variations at FamilySearch.org. RootsWeb hosts several free mailing lists for researchers of the Herrera surname. CousinConnect.com allows you to read or post genealogy queries for the surname Herrera, and sign up for free notification when new Herrera queries are added. DistantCousin.com gives you access to free databases and genealogy links for the last name Herrera. References Cottle, Basil. Penguin Dictionary of Surnames. Baltimore, MD: Penguin Books, 1967. Menk, Lars. A Dictionary of German Jewish Surnames. Avotaynu, 2005. Beider, Alexander. A Dictionary of Jewish Surnames from Galicia. Avotaynu, 2004. Hanks, Patrick and Flavia Hodges. A Dictionary of Surnames. Oxford University Press, 1989. Hanks, Patrick. Dictionary of American Family Names. Oxford University Press, 2003. Smith, Elsdon C. American Surnames. Genealogical Publishing Company, 1997.