Balanced Scorecard Analysis of Peel Memorial Hospital

Balanced Scorecard Analysis of Peel Memorial Hospital Using the case analysis of The Balanced Scorecard-solution at Peel Memorial Hospital (Harber, 1998), this paper illustrates how performance management can directly affect the success of an organization in meeting its goals and mission. A brief analysis of the case is first presented, followed by the identification of major issues involving both the organization and the individuals involved. This analysis continues with an identification of the alternative courses of action to address, and a decision or recommendation for action as well.

The scenarios that Peel Memorial Hospital faced are easily transferrable to a very broad base of other business unrelated to healthcare as the case concentrates on the alignment of vision and mission of an organization with their daily routines and initiatives (Harber, 1998). Brief Analysis of the Case The nature of the healthcare business, as can be inferred from the case, is one that has many opportunities for ancillary services and entirely new business models.

This is seen in how many ancillary businesses that Peel refers to and how this strategy forces the healthcare provider to "be all things to all people" (Harber, 1998). This lead to a significant amount of internal confusion and a lack of clarity of vision, mission, goals and objectives in the company as well. Over time, the lack of a unifying business performance management strategy led to employee dissatisfaction.

It also led to a continual questioning of which specific set of objectives and goals mattered, and from that, which specific key performance indicators (KPIs) and metrics as well (Harber, 1998). The conditions in the health provider prior to the implementation of the Balanced Scorecard (BSC) provided an excellent baseline to quantify the contributions of enterprise performance management initiatives and programs put into place.

Identification of the Major Issues The most significant issues facing the hospital are its lack of clarity with regard to just who their entire ecosystem is designed to serve. This is a direct result of the lack of vision and mission the hospital has. Going through the process of determining a patient and community focus as the galvanizing point of their entire organization significantly streamlined the definition of an enterprise performance management strategy (Harber, 1998).

It is often the highly customer-centric factors of any organizational structure that lead to the highest probability of success in redefining performance management frameworks and metrics (Inamdar, Kaplan, Reynolds, 2002). This is because a strong customer orientation can drive accountability for performance across many diverse balanced scorecards (BSC) within an organization. The lack of initial focus on the patient and community focus is responsible for Peel Hospital not having that initial galvanizing foundation, as evidenced by the cases' content (Harber, 1998).

In addition to the lack of focus on the patient and community, Peel Memorial Hospital has also allowed a common mistake or strategic error to occur in how they are managing their enterprise performance management strategy. By including too many key performance indicators (KPIs) and metrics of performance, the staffs at Peel have become confused not just about how they are measured but also about their specific roles as well (Harber, 1998).

This can be seen in the relatively low morale figures for the organization at the beginning of the case study at 33%. Too many KPIs and metrics of performance can have the exact opposite effect a strongly executive enterprise performance management system has; it can disassociate and de-motivate employees who grapple with just how they are to excel on so many conflicting dimensions at once (Inamdar, Kaplan, Reynolds, 2002).

While not specifically mentioned, it can be alluded form the case that the pervasive use of KPIs and metrics had become so difficult that the employees had begun to lose the intention to continually improve that an excellent enterprise performance management system will enable.

Identification of the Alternative Courses of Action For Peel Memorial, the alternatives include piloting entirely new KPIs and metrics in only a small subset of their organization to benchmark performance, complete an internal audit and evaluate which KPIs and metrics need to be included, or design an entirely new series.