Performance measurement.

• Position: From the Library

Gaining Strategic Alignment: Scorecards That Work

William Fonvielle and Lawrence P. Carr

Accounting Management Quarterly, Fall 2001, pp. 4-14.

Organizational alignment occurs when employees share a clear sense of purpose, inspiration, and energy that leads to increased effectiveness at both the individual and team levels. Alignment is fundamental for proper strategy implementation. This article shows how an organization's scorecard can be en effective organizational alignment tool when it is linked to strategy. Performance measures in the scorecard can help: 1) translate strategy into operational and quantifiable measurements, 2) reduce a strategy to its critical success factors, and 3) identify and align action steps to achieve strategic goals. The authors provide guidance for gaining the stakeholder commitment necessary to implement a successful scorecard approach. For instance, understanding the area of uncertain commitment among executives is crucial for leaders. Executives may be undecided about the value of strategic elements and lack consensus as to strategic direction. Discussing these aspects of uncertainty among management team members can lead to common understanding and new consensus. Once executives have focused their attention on...