Strategy Map - Origin of Strategy Maps

Origin of Strategy Maps

The Balanced Scorecard is a framework that is used to help in the design and implementation of strategic performance management tools within organizations. The Balanced Scorecard provides a simple structure for representing the strategy to be implemented, and has become associated with a wide selection of design tools that facilitate the identification of measures and targets that can inform on the progress the organization is making in implementing the strategy selected ("activities"), and also provide feedback on whether the strategy is having the kind of impact on organizational performance that was hoped for ("outcomes"). By providing managers with this direct feedback on whether the required actions are being carried out, and whether they are working, the Balanced Scorecard is thought to help managers focus their attention more closely on the interventions necessary to ensure the strategy is effectively and efficiently executed.

One of the big challenges faced in the design of Balanced Scorecard based performance management systems is deciding what activities and outcomes to monitor. By providing a simple visual representation of the strategic objectives to be focused on, along with additional visual cues in the form of the perspectives and causal arrows, the strategy map has been found useful in enabling discussion within a management team about what objectives to choose, and subsequently to support discussion of the actual performance achieved.

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