| Management Principles Information on the Internet
previous page November 29, 2004 I. Introduction. The purpose of this article is to identify websites to which a management accountant can link to find information on principles, concepts, and procedures used in management – principles, concepts, and procedures needed to, or possibly needing to, be understood and used by the management accountant. The Internet was extensively searched using dozens of relevant search terms and the Yahoo search engine. Over 45 websites were found and are identified in this article. These more than 45 websites fall into one of eight readily recognized (by managers) subject categories. These eight categories are frequently of interest in finding applications of the principles within the categories to manage organizations. The eight categories are: Performance management principles Balanced scorecard management principles Project management principles Lean management principals Quality management principles Economic Value-added management principles Knowledge management principles Theory of constraints management principles In addition, some websites found in the search have substantial information at them in more than one of these eight categories. This article does not, in anyway, attempt to be a tutorial, or to provide explanations or insights, about these eight management categories. For such assistance about the categories, the reader should go to the websites identified in the article. This is, in fact, the purpose of the article – to lead the reader to websites where the reader can learn and/or refresh his (or her) self on the management principles, concepts, and procedures put forward in the management category. The remainder of this article has sections identifying websites relevant to each of these eight categories. There is also a section identifying websites that have substantial information at them in more than one of these eight categories. In the final section, conclusions are provided. At the beginning of each of the eight category sections, a brief discussion is provided on why the management principles should be of interest to a management accountant - that is, why an organization will benefit by the management accountant’s greater understanding of, and input to the management principles being implemented in the organization. II. Performance Measurement Principles. Management accountants have traditionally done analysis and made input to financial performance measurements. The websites identified in this section might help the management accountant better perfect performance measurements currently done. The sites might also provide ideas that will lead to expanding the scope of performance measurements that the management accountant can do to help the organization. An article, written by Alistair Shaw, at this site, www.fpm.com/journal/mattison.htm, identifies measurements that can be used in the following performance dimensions: competitiveness; financial performance; quality of service; flexibility; resource utilization; and innovation. A performance handbook, at this site, www.orau.gov/PBM/handbook, developed by the Department of Energy, provides information on the development and implementation of a performance measurement program and provides multiple approaches to such a program. The site is maintained by Oak Ridge Associated Universities. A glossary of performance measurement terms is provided. At this US Department of Commerce site, www.quality.nist.gov/Business_Criteria.htm, you can access, in pdf file format, a report that provides details on the performance measurements and management principles used in determining Baldridge Award winners. Performance is measured in these general areas: leadership; strategic planning; customer and market focus; measurement, analysis, and knowledge management; human resource focus; process management; and business results. This link, www.zigonperf.com/resources.html, takes you to a site, maintained by the Zigon Performance Group, which provides information related to performance measurement concepts and principles. Access to performance measurements for 30 job functions and links to over 100 websites, related to performance measurement, are available by registering at the site, which is free. An article, written by Vince Kellen of DePaul University and Blue Wolf, on using Business Performance Management (BPM) software, is at this site, www.kellen.net/bpm.htm. Many problems in such software use are identified and discussed. A set of critical success factors, needed for successful implementation of BPM software, is identified. This link, www.performance-measurement.net, takes you to a site, maintained by four performance measurement software companies, CorVu, PbViews, PreSoft, and Cognos, which have several articles dealing with performance management and achieving strategic objectives. III. Balance Scorecard Management Principles. The balance scorecard (BSC) management principle is, it seems to me, in fact, performance management. But, because of its widespread name recognition, and the widespread use of the BSC principles, websites related to balance scorecard are identified in this article in this separate section. The same comments made above, under performance measurement principles, as to how management accountants can use these websites, e.g. to perfect what one already is doing and expanding the scope of what is being done, applies equally well here for balance scorecard management principles. A website, www.balancedscorecard.org, maintained by the Balanced Scorecard Institute, gives the basics, applications, suggested metrics, and other information related to the balance scoreboard approach to management. Links are provided to other related sites and the site can be searched. An emphasis at this site is using BSC in government organizations. Niwot Ridge Resources has a site, www.niwotridge.com/Resources/DomainLinks/BalancedScoreCard.htm, maintained by Glen Alleman, which has links to balanced scorecard sites and articles. From this site, you can link to dozens of balanced scorecard websites. please click here to go to the next page |