The aim of my thesis is to critically evaluate the set of management tools used in the student organization AIESEC Praha. The issues discussed are the organization's mission and strategic management, especially using the system of Balanced Scorecard. Furthermore, terms of critical success factors and key performance indicators are defined and are being investigated in various stages of development of the strategic map of Balanced Scorecard of AIESEC Praha, with emphasis on their annual change, consistency and coherence with other instruments of the organization, its internal development and the development of the external environment. In conclusion I describe a draft of qualitatively better system of management tools of AIESEC Praha with regard to described objectives. Emphasis is also placed on the conditions of usage of the system of management tools and the factors that influence its further development.

The Balanced Scorecard (BSC), developed by Robert S. Kaplan and David P. Norton in the early 1990s, is a powerful management tool for assisting an organization to focus on its strategy and establish and track performance against objectives in pursuit of that strategy. There have been many examples of successful implementations of the BSC. However, the literature indicates that the vast majority of BSC implementations fail. It is proposed that organizational culture is a mediating factor which contributes to success or failure in BSC implementations. Further, organizational learning, a driving force behind successful BSC implementations, is mediated by organizational culture as well. This dissertation reports on an empirical study to investigate the relationship between organizational culture and Balanced Scorecard effectiveness. This study involved collecting survey data from employees working in the various departments of a large County government organization. The survey instrument employed included a self-assessment for BSC effectiveness as well as an organizational culture assessment based on the Denison Organizational Culture Survey Instrument (OCSI). Organizational Learning was measured by the Organizational Learning index included in the OSCSI. The survey results show that each of the four organizational traits - Involvement, Consistency, Adaptability, and Mission - as measured by the Denison OCSI are significantly related to BSC effectiveness. Similarly, organizational learning, as measured by the Organizational Learning index, is significantly related to BSC effectiveness. Accordingly, it is concluded that an interrelationship among organizational culture, organizational learning, and BSC effectiveness exists.

The use of a counter-balance weight system of a Smith machine affects measures of bench press throw performance. Twenty-four men performed bench press throws at 30% of their one-repetition maximum under four different conditions: 1) counter-balance and rebound movement (RC), 2) no counter-balance and rebound movement (RNC), 3) counter-balance and concentric only movement (CC), and 4) no counter-balance and concentric only movement (CNC). Peak power, force, and concentric and eccentric velocities were measured using a linear accelerometer; and peak ground reaction force (GRF) was measured using a forceplate. Peak measures for concentric and eccentric velocities showed that NCB> CB and RBT > CBT. Peak GRF measures showed CB > NCB and RBT > CBT. The lower performance measures for CB were likely due to an increase in the net external load when the barbell accelerates faster than the gravitational constant causing the counter-balance weight becomes ineffective.

This Master´s thesis deals with the controlling utilization in concrete company. Diploma work specifies definition of controlling and its place in management system in the theoretical part. Next chapter analyses situation in the company and defines the problems. The aim of the Master´s thesis is suggestion of solving these problems. Balanced Scorecard is used on the determinate problem of strategic controlling. Then in the thesis is recommended creation of financial analysis and system of financial indicators.

Tato práce je zaměřena na oblast lidských zdrojů, konkrétně na optimalizaci a zefektivnění interních personálních procesů ve společnosti IT/Telco, a to pomocí souboru ukazatelů Human Resource Scorecard. Teoretická část definuje termíny, jakými jsou například balanced scorecard, human resource scorecard a benchmarking. Dále popisuje jednotlivé ukazatele a jejich vzorce. Praktická část uvádí výpočty ukazatelů za čtvrtletí let 2008 a 2009, jejich zhodnocení, vývoj a interní benchmarking a navrhuje řešení na zlepšení procesů v dané oblasti.

The purpose of this study is to determine whether the Balanced Scorecard provides guidance to managerial decision making in Company M. The impetus for this study came from the observations within Company M which is in the process of completing a restructuring programme. Several areas have already completed the transition. Performance measurement has become a crucial factor under the new structure and managers are making use of the Balanced Scorecard to evaluate performance, this begs the question: “ Does the Balanced Scorecard provide effective guidance to managerial decision making? “ To facilitate an objective and effective analysis of the proposed research an extensive literature review was conducted. The Balanced Scorecard is defined, the evolution of the Balanced Scorecard was observed and the preference for the uses of the Balanced Scorecard was examined in detail. This should provide a fair overview of the functionality of the Balanced Scorecard and the intended purpose it was designed to fulfil. However the literature review does not look at any specific company in detail therefore in order to investigate further from the findings of the literature review an empirical study was conducted. The research method used in the research design was a case study; the results were both structured and quantitative. The case study is purely focused on the management and operating activities of a single company (Company M). Therefore the results of the practical research should not be associated with any other company. From a theoretical perspective, the research was conducted in the form of a desktop analysis of literature content ranging from: case studies, existing research papers and published articles. For the empirical study a survey was used to gather information by the distribution and completion of a questionnaire to individuals at all levels of management within the company. / Dissertation (MCom)--University of Pretoria, 2013. / gm2014 / Financial Management / unrestricted

Kaplan and Norton have provided a framework to link control to an organization's vision-the balanced scorecard. This approach provides measures in four areas: (1) Customer, (2) Internal Business, (3) Innovation and Learning and (4) Financial. This article provides a starting point in adapting this method to a church by looking at four measurement perspectives: (1) Members/Attenders, (2) Internal Ministry Processes, (3) Ministering, and (4) Innovation and Learning. An example is then developed using a church's mission and visio.

This study represents findings of a case study focused on the connections between balanced literacy and the reading development of African American students in first and second grade. Utilizing a conceptual framework of culturally relevant pedagogy, this study investigated: (a) the ways in which teachers understood and implemented balanced literacy; (b) the role culturally relevant pedagogy played in balanced literacy instruction; and (c) how teachers utilized balanced literacy to support the reading development of African American students. Data from multiple observations of instruction and interviews resulted in the identification of three factors that contributed to the implementation of balanced literacy and the reading development of African American students – a sense of community, emphasis on reading strategies to decipher unknown words, and assessment as a tool to guide instruction and gain a deeper understanding of students’ reading ability. The findings of this study build on current literature and also contribute to new knowledge of the factors that play a role in developing the reading abilities of African American children.

This dissertation provides results of three studies, which examine the utilization of organizational performance measurement systems. Evidence gathered in the first study provides insight into the number of perspectives or components found in the evaluation of an organization's performance and the relative weight placed on those components. The evidence suggests that the number of performance measurement components and their relative composition is situational. Components depend heavily on the strategies selected by the organization. Bottom-line financial measures like return on invested capital and net profit, while perceived as more important than their nonfinancial counterparts, were not part of the extracted components suggesting that they were viewed as outcomes to be achieved by controlling key nonfinancial measures. The second study examines potential cognitive difficulties inherent in the use of performance measurement systems. Results suggest that whether performance was better than target, worse than target, or equal to target does not affect the perceived importance of the measures. Results also suggest an emphasis on historical financial measures and a lack of emphasis on more forward-looking nonfinancial measures. In addition, there is evidence of a halo effect in that an organization's performance on financial measures appears to influence an individual's perception of the organization's performance on nonfinancial measures. The third study uses structural equation modeling and other related procedures to examine the relationships surrounding an executive's use of performance measurement information. Results suggest that a personality characteristic of executives, specifically their intolerance of ambiguity, affects the amount of information perceived to be important in a performance measurement system. The results further suggest that the amount of information perceived to be important affects the evaluation of organizational performance with perceived risk serving as a mediating variable. Overall, these three studies add to our knowledge of organizational performance measurement system utilization by examining the relative weightings of performance measures, the judgmental effects from utilization of performance measurement systems, and the impact of intolerance of ambiguity on the importance of performance measurement data. In addition, this dissertation examines the link between performance measurement data and the perception of risk in the evaluation of organizational performance. / Ph. D.

Cette thèse s'intéresse aux incubateurs, des structures offrant une aide au démarrage aux créateurs d'entreprise. Cette aide repose sur de multiples services qui rendent complexe l'activité d'accompagnement entrepreneurial. Cette complexité est exacerbée par une importante diversité des incubateurs. Il en résulte des difficultés à définir une mesure pertinente de leur performance. La question de l'adaptation ou non de cette mesure se pose avec insistance. Pour y répondre, la théorie des configurations est mobilisée. Elle permet l'identification de cinq configurations idéales d'incubateur. Il est proposé d'utiliser le balanced scorecard pour adapter la mesure de la performance à chacune de ces cinq configurations idéales. Cette proposition est vérifiée par le biais d'une démarche de recherche-intervention reposant sur deux étapes. La première correspond à une étude quantitative qui analyse la pertinence du balanced scorecard dans ce contexte spécifique à partir d'un questionnaire en ligne auprès de 109 responsables d'incubateur. Les données collectées font l'objet d'une analyse descriptive. Il en ressort un modèle général de balanced scorecard. La seconde étape consiste en une expérimentation de ce modèle général au sein de cinq incubateurs. Chacun d'eux se rapproche d'une configuration idéale différente. Cette expérimentation confirme la pertinence du balanced scorecard dans le contexte étudié. L'outil permet une mesure plus pertinente, car plus équilibrée. Il fournit une information sélectionnée et synthétisée. L'expérimentation confirme aussi qu'un même modèle général de balanced scorecard ne peut être utilisé à l'identique dans différentes configurations d'incubateur. Une adaptation est systématiquement nécessaire. Cette thèse montre que chaque configuration d'incubateur entraine des indicateurs spécifiques qui s'ajoutent à des indicateurs génériques pour permettre une mesure pertinente de la performance. / This dissertation focuses on incubators, which are structures designed to support entrepreneurs by offering an array of resources and services that additionally complicate the business support activity. The complexity is amplified by a high variety of incubators, resulting in the difficulty of defining an appropriate performance measurement. The issue of adaptation or not of this measurement is thereupon constantly questioned. In response, the configurational approach is taken into account and allows to identify five ideal incubator configurations. It is suggested to use the balanced scorecard to accommodate the performance measurement to every single of these five ideal configurations. This suggestion is verified through a procedure of research-intervention based on two stages. The first stage involves a quantitative study analyzing the relevance of the balanced scorecard in this specific context, arising out of an online survey answered by 109 incubator managers. The collected data is subject of a descriptive analysis, in order to obtain a general framework of the balanced scorecard. The second stage consists in an experiment of this generic framework within five incubators. Each of them approaches a different ideal configuration. This experiment confirms the importance of the balanced scorecard in our research context. This tool furnishes a more reliable and stable measurement as a result of a selected and synthesized information. However, this experiment proves that an exemplary model of the balanced scorecard cannot be used in the different incubator configurations : an adaptation is consistently needed. This dissertation demonstrates that each incubator configuration implies specific as well as generic indicators, in order to supply a proper performance measurement.