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AN OUT-OF-BALANCE SCORECARD CAN CREATE ALL KINDS OF PROBLEMS FOR AN ACADEMIC INSTITUTION FROM LOSING A "FIRST CHOICE" EMPLOYMENT CANDIDATE TO CREATING AN OBJECTIONABLE CULTURE AND TEACHING CLIMATE TO A LACK OF PROCESS ACCOUNTABILITY. THE SITUATION DESCRIBED IN THIS ARTICLE IS JUST ONE EXAMPLE OF A BALANCED SCORECARD FAILURE.
The publication of successful cases of balanced scorecard (BSC) development and application is understandable, but failures may be less frequently documented and published in relevant professional or academic literature streams. Here we will discuss a hypothetical case that focuses on a university's inability to attract and hire its first-choice faculty candidate because it failed to benchmark its BSC. This is just one example of what could occur (and has) in similar situations.
As most people in business and academia know, the balanced scorecard is a widely used strategic planning and management system. Although it is referred to as "balanced," it is actually "weighted." An organization weights the perspectives of its internal scorecard based on objective external evidence and/or observations. In academia, the observations arise from a review of the institutions a college or university respects and aspires to emulate. During the accreditation process, a peer review team asks the institution to allow team members to review its plan for continuous improvement. In other words, a university develops and adjusts its BSC based on proven best practices.
The nonprofit academic environment differs from the commercial business sector in a variety of ways. Although both have vision and mission statements that must be aligned with perspectives contained in the BSC, the basic foundation or composition of the BSC differs. In addition, having tenure, a guaranteed job for life-with little or no risk of performance-based business failure-may produce high levels of perceived invincibility, nonaccountability, and even a corrupt climate.1
This case and the comparison of ABC University, which benchmarks its BSC, and XYZ University, which does not benchmark its BSC, suggest that first-choice candidates with sufficient expertise in their industry can detect nonbenchmarked scorecards. While these candidates might not understand how the scorecard came to be out of balance, they may think that the absence of assurance and process accountability could be pervasive in such organizations or institutions and at all levels. (Failure to benchmark the BSC...